Code Green?
by X.x.Try.Defying.Gravity.x.X
Summary: A bookverse/playverse combo. Elphaba finds herself in our world severely injured and in a hospital with no idea how she got there or who she is. Just waking up isn't her only worry; the Government is involved now. Will Elphaba ever get home to Oz?
1. The Doctor Is In

_Authors Note: Obviously I don't own Wicked. I just write for fun. So, this is sort've a mixture of play/bookverse. There's elements from both. Thanks to my friends for helping in the creation of this story. Laura, Mike and David especially. Thanks guys! This will be sort've an adventure seeing as how it's very rare I start a story I don't know where it's going. Feel free to leave reviews and tell me what you'd like to see happen. Obviously, Elphaba has somehow wound up in our world, injured and alone and obviously the time line of the two worlds don't exactly match. If you guys like it I'll continue. Thanks! - Beck August 11th 2008_

Doctor Luke Vloc walked through the double doors into the unit stifling back a yawn. The young doctor had a fellowship at this hospital and in the spring he would complete it and move on to being hired officially. Twelve years of intense study, determination, and working hard were what had gotten him to this point- not to mention a few sleepless nights along the way. The doctor paused at the nurses' station to procure his files and look them over to see what had been going on with his patients in the hours he'd spent in surgery. He was studying neurology and that meant a lot of grueling hours and some pretty nasty surgeries to be assisted in. This particular night he was simply watching the clock until seven a.m. upon which time the shift would change and he would be free to crawl back to his apartment three blocks away and sleep uninterrupted for several hours. That was, proposing, the telephone allowed him to sleep. He loved his work but it was on the tail end of a 48 hour stretch that he was beginning to feel it wearing on him. He lifted the cup in his hand up and took a drink, his face screwing up immediately; the coffee was cold. Now, if you've ever had occasion to warrant drinking cold coffee you'll know it's not a pleasurable experience.

Dr. Vloc did his best to ignore Slutty nurse one and Slutty nurse three at the desk. He sighed inwardly and hoped for the millionth time that soon some woman would enter his life and he could get a ring on his finger to stop all the flirting and giggling that came his way. These two particular nurses had a habit of trying to make his life difficult when it came to the "No dating fellow staff" stipulation of his fellowship. Heaven forbid they cared if he lost it (literally OR figuratively!), no all they were really interested in was finding out if he was as good with his hands off the floor as he was on it, so to speak. Dr. Vloc, however, had higher standards. So what if some of the nurses seemed deluded into thinking that by wearing their little v-neck scrubs and too much lipstick they were going to interest him?

He leaned nonchalantly against the tall desk allowing it to support some of his weight to take it off the soles of his feet. After enough time standing up he was beginning to wish that he could sit down, but that wasn't possible as he still had rounds to make here before he could go sit down and do his paperwork. He would see each patient before he went to the physician's lounge, brewed fresh coffee that was more palatable, and more than likely, fall asleep over his paper work and never make it back to his apartment that night. That was how it usually seemed to work out after 48 hour shifts, anyway. However, he still had a few hours to go before that seven a.m. shift change and he was going to have to stay awake at least that long. He stifled a yawn and flicked open another folder still ignoring slutty nurse one and slutty nurse three who had been joined by slutty nurse two. (Slutty nurses 1-5 flirted with anything that had two legs and wore a white jacket and stethoscope. Lucky him.)

He sighed running a hand through his blonde hair and focusing amber eyes back down on the writing on the folder. "Hey, Doc." A voice behind him said. He turned to look to see who had said his name and his eyes focused in on one of the other doctors. Wynn, another neurologist long through his fellowship. The man was probably in his late forties. He was a genial man for the most part and extremely intelligent.

"Quiet night?" Luke asked the older doctor.

Wynn nodded, "Mostly. I figured I should let you know that one patient of yours in room 195 is waking up I think. I went in earlier just to check to see her IVs were good and she was stirring slightly."

"Which one?" Vloc asked, feeling a moment of confusion.

"The..." Wynn paused, looking around him for a second. "You know.. the green one.." He nodded conspiratorially in the direction down the hall that that particular room was. "All her counts are up. Her O2 sat was up too, enough I was able to take her off the oxygen mask so now she's just getting a bit of blow by and her blood pressure was up too.. it was pretty low there for awhile. Her pulse was up to 45 beats a minute- still low on the average but she's thin so I expect she's always somewhat low." He said. "Her respers were 20."

"Oh.. Mystery woman." Luke inserted, understanding what Wynn meant now.

Wynn nodded, "Yep, that's the one. Luke, if you'd told me you had a green patient in the ICU in a coma for nearing on four weeks and knew absolutely nothing about her and I'd not seen it with my own eyes..." He sighed, "I'd swear you'd been down to the local bar and had a few too many, if you know what I mean."

Dr. Vloc made a face. "I'd never and besides, you've seen how... unusual.. she is all on your own. There's not a shred of evidence on her.. no sign of a driver's license or any sort of I.D. or anything. I've searched missing persons, homicides and had some people over at the police department doing some checking, but the fact is.. no one in Topeka seems to have any idea where she came from and that's awfully strange.. for a green woman don't you think? Now I've heard of people going blue from ingesting too much colloidal silver.. but.. I'm pretty sure I've never heard anything about green."

Dr. Wynn paused. "I really hate to say this.. but you know she reminds me of that get up they had Margaret Hamilton in in the Wizard of Oz what with that green skin and all the black. I'm sure there's a perfectly good explanation but... well, she does look... witchy..." The two of them had to stop to contain soft sniggers of laughter that had been working their way forward all of this time. "And you don't even know the worst of it. When she was admitted she was wearing a pointed hat like a witch hat."

"Isn't Halloween still three months away?"

"Yes.. so either she's slightly eccentric or something else." Wynn pointed out.

"She is awfully intriguing I have to admit.. I'd just like to know where she came from. She's sure not from Kansas." He muttered, shaking his head and feeling rejuvenated as he took the Jane Doe file along with the rest of them and headed along the long, dimly lit hallway towards room 195 as the clock made a staggering tick towards three a.m.


	2. Early Morning Wake Up Call

Dr. Luke Vloc walked down the hallway of Topeka Memorial Hospital carrying his patient files with him. This hallway was one he had ghosted and familiarized himself with over the past three years of his fellowship here. He'd done his internship and residency outside of Topeka at a smaller hospital near his hometown. However, that little hospital wasn't one where you could do a fellowship in neurology and so he'd had to pick up and move across Kansas to Topeka- the capital city. Topeka was bustling and much busier than his tiny home town, but he didn't mind.

He could walk this hallway with his eyes closed by now and know which patient rooms were his to check in on. He knew the hospital- at least floor four- like the back of his hand. He winced as he heard his shoes making a squeaking sound on the highly polished flooring and quipped the old adage, "Must have stolen my shoes," under his breath. That was what his Grandpa used to say about squeaky shoes when he'd been just a little kid. If your shoes squeaked that you had stolen them from the shoe store instead of paying for them. He wondered why it came back to him at this particular moment when his Grandfather had been passed on for several years. He grinned slightly and lifted up one foot up. He was wearing black shoes, nothing particularly special about them, blue jeans (what could you say people were more lax about what they wore to work in Kansas, even the doctors), a polo shirt in black and his white coat over that, a stethoscope draped around his neck and a pen tucked behind one ear. His blonde curls were cut short but no matter how short his hair it was thick and grew out of his head very curly and had since he was a little boy. It had resulted in quite a bit of teasing from classmates through his school years but no one seemed to notice it too much now that he was a successful doctor.

Luke was a detail person. This might seem a random thought, but he picked up on little things that other people didn't. It was one of the things he most liked about himself. He felt that this was also what made him a good doctor- aside from the fact that he cared a lot for his patients. It was this detail that helped him and got him into trouble at times. With it, he noticed how empty the hallways were as he walked down them, peeking into rooms to see that patients were sleeping and checking charts and making notes without ever waking a single one. He noticed that the hospital seemed almost abandoned tonight for whatever reason. It wasn't merely the fact that they had a skeleton crew working being that it was the middle of the night. No, there was more to it than that. Something else was causing the strange, eerie aloneness that had come upon him as he headed down the hall. He reminded himself that it was silly given that he could take fifteen steps back the other way and find Wynn and the nurses. Luke sighed and realized he still had one more patient to see- the mystery woman from room 195.

She really was a mystery. She had been found in the wreckage of a tornado that had swept through a few miles out of Topeka. It was mostly farm land the thing had destroyed and she was its only victim aside from a setting hen that had been picked up and distributed several miles away from its original location, nest of eggs in tact right along beside her. The woman had been found unconscious laying in a pool of water. Her clothes were ripped and her skin looked strange (aside from the green) as it was having some allergic reaction or as if it had been burnt. Just a couple of days into her hospital stay mystery added to this when the nurses attempted to bed bath her and realized why her skin was so irritated. Unbelievably... it looked as if she was somehow allergic to pure water. She had brought with her only a small black bag, the black dress that she wore, looking as if it belonged at least a hundred years earlier, the pointed witch's hat and an old broomstick. Within the bag they had found a label that said only four words Property Of: Elphaba Thropp. The other two words were so scrawled it had taken forever to make them out. Whoever had written them had had messy handwriting or had been too anxious to do a proper job of writing it. Unfortunately, he had no way of knowing if the bag belonged to her or if that was even her name. The label had been buried in the bottom and all folded up. Who knew, it could have belonged to the last person to carry the bag. Even so, perhaps it wasn't even a name. Either that or if it was a name and it didn't belong to her, well, her parents must have had a bit too much Demerol when they were naming her, he thought wryly.

And there she had stayed, in the room in the ICU, in her coma unable to breathe on her own for the last four weeks. The police could find nothing, no one came forward, and no leads were overturned. After the first couple of weeks interest in her had started to wane. It probably would have done so even earlier had it not been for the strange color of her opalescent, green skin. They stopped trying to wash her skin and, after a small conference, started cleaning her with oil. If her skin was allergic to water, how would it react to the opposite- oil? The woman didn't seem to be allergic to the oil and it even appeared to help her skin problems. However, she still didn't awaken. It was a perplexing case and it kept the doctors' heads buzzing with curiosity. How could a woman become green? Was she really allergic to water as it seemed? Would she ever awaken? A special test called an electroencephalogram (EEG) was performed to measure the amount of brain activity and returned with good results. The woman's brain was completely intact and healthy. In fact, the results surprised the doctors. Normally an EEG on a patient, especially one in a coma, provided a brain wave measure of 4-7 hertz, or at times 8-12 hertz. Those would be broken up into the theta and alpha ranges respectively. However, the woman's EEG results came back at a startling 18. Results that high were normally only seen when the patient was actively moving and performing normal functions, not while they were sunk into the depths of a coma. Her mind was racing and active even when she was fast asleep. What could explain such a phenomenon?

Luke gave a gentle push with his hand to the door that led into room 195. It was very dark in the room given that it was 3 in the morning and they were on the Eastern side of the hospital so not receiving any moonlight as the moon had already gotten over to the western edge due to the short nights and long days of summer.

He walked across the room being as quiet as possible by habit, perhaps. He was used to sneaking into patients' rooms and not waking them when he took their vitals and left them still sleeping. He looked over at the form in the big white hospital bed. The mystery woman, Elphaba? Possibly? was tall and very thin. Her body was extremely angular with barely a hint of womanly curves- not that he had been looking but! well, it was hard not to notice in a hospital gown, even if you hadn't been trying to. Besides, he was sleepy and his mind tended to stray to places it normally wouldn't. Not to misunderstand because he didn't want to get into any trouble. He was very against doctor patient relationships because they usually didn't end well for either party.

Luke looked up at the screen above her bed. The woman was hooked up to a million tubes and wires still that brought her medicine and oxygen and blood and more. The heart rate was up as Dr. Wynn had pointed out as well as the amount of times she breathed during a minute and the oxygen count in her blood was up as well. All in all, these were good signs. He sighed and reached over on the bed and slowly found her wrist moving two fingers along it until he found the place directly where her thumb formed the v with her hand and about half an inch below her wrist and pressed in with his fingers to feel her pulse. It throbbed vigorously with a beat that he could feel easily from beneath her green skin. He looked and his eyes picked up on the veins running beneath her skin. She was very very thin- her bones stuck up more than they should have and he was willing to bet if he had undressed her he would have seen her ribs and spine and hip bones clearly. It looked as if she hadn't had many square meals or much sleep in the last week. She looked worse for the wear despite the month at the hospital. The Doctor sighed softly as he leaned over the bed in order to turn her over. They'd been making sure to turn her every two hours, side to side, stomach to back to be sure she didn't develop pressure sores from laying in the same position constantly. He repositioned her carefully and stuck the pillows in beneath her to prop her up to she wouldn't fall back to the other side once he let go of her. He sighed and tenderly pulled her hair out of her face since it had fallen there when he moved her. He noted that her hair was soft and very thick and the perfect color of ebony. It was the kind of hair that a person would want to run their hands through because it was so silky soft.

He resisted that urge, needless to say, and reached to the end of the bed and took the covers. He pulled the sheets right being sure there were no wrinkles and pulled the covers gently over her skeletally thin body and up to her shoulder. At the end of the bed he lifted a triangle section of the sheet and bedspread and extra cover up and laid it on the bed, tucking the excess at the corner in under the mattress and dropped the excess to make a tucked in and squared off corner and then did the end to the other side so that the covers wouldn't fall loose and get off the bed into the floor as they had a tendency to do if the corners weren't mitered.

He sighed a bit and stepped back from the end of the bed and went to the head of the bed again. He knew that the monitor was taking her heart rate accurately but he couldn't resist sticking his black stethoscope into his ears and blowing on the ear piece to warm it and pressing it gently where her heart would be beating. He heart the thrum of it and listened for fifteen seconds or so before putting the stethoscope back around his neck in its original position. He reached to the end of her bed and took her chart and began writing. Like any doctor, his penmanship left something to be strongly desired, however, he could read it and that's what mattered. He wrote in his own personal brand of short hand and even the nurses were sometimes forced to ask for a translation. They didn't seem to mind too much though. No wonder, it only gave them another excuse to come find him and flirt with him. Luke wondered if he would ever escape that. He doubted it.

He sighed and placed the chart back on its hanger on the end of the bed and was about to turn to leave when something stopped him.

"If you're quite finished poking and prodding me like the incompetent imbecile you are! What do you want? Explain yourself! What makes you think you have the right to put your hands on me?!"

He whipped around so fast that he felt sure he might have given himself whiplash. The voice was filled with a whirlwind of emotions. He could sense the sarcasm and ridicule that hinted that this person didn't mince words. There was pain there too, hoarseness from a lack of speaking for a long time. and very present though she might not know it- fear. Terror, even. He could hardly understand where the voice had come from and for a moment he wondered if he'd been hearing things but, no, when he looked around, the woman was awake. He could see her eyes open and glittering in the dark. He felt certain that they had not been before. And even in her terror it struck him that she was beautiful. He filed the thought away for further consideration in the back corner of his brain. He couldn't allow spare thoughts to distract him at this moment. The monitor above her bed was going crazy. Her breathing was up to 40 some breaths a minute and her heart was pounding. He quickly hit the silence button on the monitor. "Please, Miss. calm down." His own voice was calm, gentle.

"Go away!" She hissed. The hiss was soft but evident. She was literally paralyzed with fear. She had used all of her strength to haul herself into the farest corner away from him of the narrow, twin sized hospital bed.

He was immediately Dr. Vloc again and back in possession of all his doctor mannerisms as he back away from her, holding his hands up in a gesture of peace. He backed up a good twenty feet from her until he hit the wall. He winced at hitting the back of his head against it and swore under his breath. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. I'm a doctor." He said desperately.

She paused, seeming to consider this for a moment and so he pressed his luck a bit further.

"What's your name?"

The woman paused unnaturally. There was something of an awkward silence before she responded with a strange, stuttering voice that was filled with an honest terror. He had never seen a person so scared before. Her voice came out in a whisper, her eyes wide. "I ... I don't know." She whispered.

_Thanks for all the pretty reviews guys :) They really helped a lot in creating the direction this story is going to go as I now have a full plotline. Thanks to everyone who's reading I hope you're enjoying. Comments, Questions, Compliments, Critiques.. feel free grins. New Chapter should be up in a day or two have fun with the cliff hanger :) - Elphie_


	3. Getting Off On the Wrong Foot

She looked up with terrified eyes. The feelings that were currently coursing through her body were so strong that she wasn't sure she was going to be able to hold them at bay for much longer. Some part of her knew that she was going to cry and she did not want this.. this.. person. Doctor? he said. To be there when she finally fell apart. She was unsure of the reasoning but it would be just too awkward. All she wanted was to cry, to let go and admit her terror. After all, how would you feel if you'd just discovered that you didn't know your name and that you had woken up in a strange place the likes of which you'd never seen before with a strange man whom you felt sure you'd never laid eyes on before this moment. In fact, that he had entered the room and started poking around only a few moments after you'd first come to after what seemed like a very long, deep nap.

At first it had merely felt to her, upon waking, as if she was merely a bit confused and living in something of a dream. It is the way you might feel after you've gone to bed extremely tired and have been spending the night away from home - such as in a hotel room somewhere. You wake up wondering where you are, but not to the point of panic. It is as if you're in a bit of a dream state, perhaps still not even all the way awake. To the woman huddled in the white covers and sheets of the hospital bed of Topeka Memorial, that was exactly the state in which she had been before the stranger came in and started poking around. You can only imagine the terror that would bring to her- the realization that not only did she not know where she was but that she was with someone whom she did not know.

She had barely had time to recover from the shock of this and to slow her crazily pounding heart when new waves of terror were forced upon her with the knowledge he had brought next. He had asked her name and she had realized that she did not know her name. No, that wasn't the only thing she didn't know... she didn't know ... anything. The woman shrank back slowly into the pillows wrapping slender arms around her legs which she had pulled up to her chest. She had just come to realize that she was alone, in a strange place, with no clue who she was. Her mind was racing but not with thoughts, simply with terror so pure and clear she knew that no matter what she had experienced in her life, even if she didn't remember it, it never could have been a fear stronger than the one she now faced. All she wanted was to understand. She was so confused, so tired. She wanted to be safe. She wanted to know what was going on. She wanted to be home. Wherever home was... Home... She closed her eyes for a moment and shivered. All she could see behind closed lids was a silvery bright glow. It was not the type of light that you see when you are facing the sun with closed eyes. No, it was more a glow that came from something. For a moment it felt as if the inside of her mind was some scattered kaleidoscope of strange light and particles dancing about. Then the light fragments straightened themselves out and she saw silver- silver light. It looked as if it was emanating from what looked like a pair of shoes. The shoes were fairly average in design. They had wedge toes and just a little tiny bit of heel. They were silver in color and covered all over with a design of small beads that looked as if they were made of silver glass and strewn in delicate patterns around the shoes.

She shook her head away from the thought. What a very strange thing to imagine- a pair of silver shoes. Certainly, they were nice shoes- beautiful in fact, but why was she seeing them in her mind's eye? What was the point of this? She felt so confused and so frustrated and so near tears at the moment. She just shook her head. "I don't know.." She repeated and then she couldn't hold it back anymore. Suddenly there were rivers of tears running down her cheeks. She winced and pulled back, trying to stop due to the pain that the tears caused, but she couldn't stop. It felt like her skin was on fire everywhere the tears touched. The trails of water down her skin were torture and pain and the pain from them only made her produce even more tears that squeezed out the edges of her burning eyes. She twisted and turned madly in attempt to get away from the pain. "Oh damn it make it stop!" She exclaimed, wincing as she rubbed her eyes angrily, shaking crazily now from pain and fear. Why did her tears burn? Were tears meant to burn? She didn't think so, but then what did she know? anything really? no.

The man stepped forwards instantly and the immediately held up her hands in front of her to ward him away. "Please.. please don't hurt me!" She whispered, her voice soft, pleading.

"I promise, Miss. I swear on pain of death not to hurt you." Luke said, his voice filled with the same calming note that he used with emergency room patients as he calmed them down. He walked across the room towards her and sat on the edge of the bed and took a Kleenex from the box on the table by her bed and leaned forward. "Close your eyes." he whispered.

"No way." She hissed back, her voice still reflecting the many shades of fear that she felt deep inside.

"Alright, I'm going to get the tears off. Just don't move okay." He whispered. "I'll make it stop burning." He whispered, a wheedling note in his voice that caused her to sit still as he wrapped the Kleenex around his finger and brought it up slowly, brushing the tears from her face. He brushed the tissue slowly around her eyes gathering every bit of excess moisture. "There now." He whispered. "There's no reason to fear. I won't hurt you." He whispered, still running the cloth along her cheeks being sure she was extra dry.

"You promise?" She whispered softly, staring into his eyes.

"Mm hm." He said softly. "When I became a doctor I had to repeat a vow and it said I would always put the good of my patients before my own and that I would always do no harm." He explained to her, gently wiping her eyes the rest of the way. He reached for the bottle of baby oil they'd been using to clean her with and dapped it on the cloth rubbing it into her cheeks again, hoping to soothe the irritated skin. It made him even more interested that even tears were impossibly painful for her. Of course, it would be impossible to question her about this bizarre phenomenon or the color of her skin at the moment since she was so upset and didn't seem to be remembering. However, the breach in memory could be attributed to a million things either physical or psychological in nature.

She looked up at him with wide eyes as he tenderly cleaned her cheeks to take away the awful stinging there and for the first time since her awakening a few moments ago, did not feel a sense of terror. Nervousness yes, but somewhere deep inside of her she knew that she could trust this stranger who called himself a doctor. Not that she really had a choice in this foreign world with no idea who she was. She would have to rely on him that nothing would happen to her and she didn't know why, but the idea made her more than a little uneasy. Depending on a stranger was risky wasn't it? She shook her head. She was beginning to get a dull, throbbing ache that stayed in her temples right over her eyes and she needed it to go away.

At that moment, the young man spoke again, distracting her. "Do you remember anything that happened to you?" He asked, his voice soft.

She considered the question carefully honestly trying to see if she remembered anything and all she could see within her mind's eye was a large blank. Slowly she shook her head, her eyes wide still.

Luke sighed, "Who's the President of the United States?"

She screwed up her eyes, "Theodore Roosevelt?" She asked, unsure where the reply had come from. Who was Theodore Roosevelt? She'd heard the name.. where? Mentally she smacked herself for not knowing.

Luke's own eyes widened. This seriously could be a problem. "Do you know where you are?"

"No.." The woman whispered, "What is this? Some kind of a quiz to prove to you how obtuse I am?!" She asked, the hiss of frustration and anger evident. She spoke with a hint of flinty steel within her quivering voice.

"Of.. of course not!" Dr. Vloc exclaimed, trying to keep the shock and frustration out of his voice. He had to remind himself to be calm. "What kind of person do you think I am?"

The woman raised slender, arched, black brows. "I don't know."

Luke sighed, reaching his hands up and massaging his temples. "I'm sorry. Can we just, start over or something?" He asked with a sigh. "We haven't exactly gotten off on a good foot, have we?"

"No."

"No to which part?" He asked, confused. He felt strange and wrong footed and very frustrated. He wasn't used to meeting women who could match him wit for wit when speaking and it irritated him that she made him feel stupid and confused all while accusing him of trying to make her feel that way. Perhaps it was the lack or sleep or perhaps it was the frustration of her awakening revealing nothing more, he wasn't sure, but he was far more frustrated than he should be for someone with twelve years of experience working on his side. How did she do that to him?! It was maddening!

"To the part about getting off on a good start." She amended, studying him with shrewd, dark eyes.

"So, um.. start over then?"

"Fine." She replied. She wasn't trying to be difficult, it wasn't that at all. She was just very confused and frustrated and it made her tart and cranky.

"Perhaps I could tell you what I know about where you are and how you came to be here. It might help?" Luke suggested.

The woman nodded. She didn't speak.

"Four weeks ago a large tornado came through this area, just outside of Topeka. Topeka is the town you're in right now. It's the capital city of Kansas, Kansas is a state in the United States." He told her, feeling very foolish.

"I know." she said, though if she'd been asked how she knew she couldn't have said.

She laid back finally in the pillows, not wanting to admit her own lack of strength, but she didn't have enough to remain sitting up any longer. "Obviously when the tornado was over we sent out rescue crews to assess the damage. They found several people in the wreckage though you were the most severely hurt. You were found in a pool of water with that looked like multiple burns and were unconscious. They brought you back here to the intensive care unit at Topeka Memorial, a hospital, and I was assigned to your case. You've remained here without waking for the last four weeks. We did discover that the burns seemed to have been caused by water. As silly as it seems, it appears that your skin.. burns.. when exposed to water of any kind. Including tears as I've just discovered. It's as if you're allergic to water as funny a thought as that is. We were only able to discover one other thing about you. You carried with you a black book bag containing several books that looked to be about magic. One of them, the Grimmerie, is one of the oldest magic books known to man kind and is extremely rare." he said softly. "There are only about five known copies in the world and I'm not sure where you got it as any of them would probably sell for millions of dollars. Though, I doubt asking you will do any good." He smirked slightly. "Within the bag was also a paper with a name on it. I think it might be yours but really, there's no proof because the bag just as easily could have belonged to someone else so please don't.. get your hopes up."

Elphaba offered the first hint of a smile as one corner of her mouth turned up, "The name?" She inquired.

"Elphaba." he responded, though his pronunciation was incorrect. He pronounced the name el-FAB-uh.

"EL-phaba." She immediately corrected without thought, placing the stress on the first syllable and taking it off the middle one.

"So it is your name?!" he asked in surprise.

She shook her head. "Yes.. no... I don't know damn it!" She protested. "I don't know why I'm doing half the things I'm doing. I don't know why I knew how to say the name, I don't know why I was walking around with a freaking bag of magic books in the middle of a tornado and I damned don't have a clue where I belong or what to do from now on and I'd appreciate it if you could just handle giving me a few minutes to get my bearings and figure out what I'm going to do now." She retorted. "The least you could do is have a little bit of compassion. Don't you think putting all this information on my shoulders was going to make me just a little bit nervous?! I don't WANT to do this. I wish I'd never woken up." She muttered, turning over onto her side so that she was facing the wall away from him. "Just leave me be will you. If I can't go back to sleep at least perhaps I could get you to shut up long enough that I could forget what you've told me! I want to go home and I don't know where home is!" She exclaimed.

Luke leaped from the bed and held up his hands. "el FA..er.. Elphaba.. please." He protested, "I know this is hard.. "

"You don't know anything!" She screeched. "Don't you dare try to pretend that you understand this or that you know because you DON'T I'm pretty sure that you haven't had a green woman come through the hospital every other week and I'm pretty sure you've never had someone addicted to water either. So just shut the hell up and leave me alone. You don't know me and I don't know you let's keep it that way." She snapped, wrapped her arms around her narrow, angular body and pulling the covers over her head. He backed away, hearing what sounded suspiciously like dry sobs from inside the quivering mass of blankets on the bed.

He backed up faster our of the door of the room and his mind was so possessed with her that he didn't even think to look before running right into a cart of room service trays. I probably don't need to tell you that he knocked the entire cart over and fell down right in the middle of it. Glass shattered, half filled trays with most of their contents eaten spilled across the hospital floor and Dr. Luke Vloc laid in the middle of it, staring at the door to room 195 in shock. He was pretty sure he'd never had a patient speak to him or think of him in such a manner. "Not one word." He muttered in embarrassment, glaring at the crowd of doctors and nurses who had gathered around obviously attracted by the shouting and then the crashing that had followed immediately.

"What? Patient get the better of you, Doc?" Asked one of the others.

Luke glared at the speaker with such a force in his amber eyes that it made all the crowd suddenly go quiet and begin to disperse to their actual, various duties around the floor. "Now.. anyone else going to say something?" He asked, crawling out of the wreckage and trying to brush the worst of it off of his white coat. "If not, I'm going back to my apartment and sleep. I know it's an hour before shift change. Tough. I'm exhausted and I'm in a very bad mood now thanks to all of this. I'm going home. Call me if I'm needed." He muttered in a rather more hard and irritated voice than he normally used. Elphaba wasn't the only one who had been rubbed the wrong way by the night's events.

Somewhere deep inside of him a pinprick of guilt poked at him for just walking off and going home and leaving her there when he could still hear her sobbing as he walked down the hall and he bent his head lower and pulled his white coat around him more firmly trying to push it away as he left the hospital and walked out into torrential sheets of rain and gusts of wind...

_Authors Note: Thanks for sticking with the story it's about to start getting very interesting indeed. Obviously, as you noticed, Elphaba's actions are slightly ooc. This being caused by the fact that when a person has complete amnesia like she does.. they don't retain their personality very well if it all because they've got nothing to base it off of. So, for a little while Elphie's going to be different. Don't fear, the real Elphie's hiding in there somewhere. Promise. Please review and lemme know what you think so far :) Next chapter up soon. _


	4. Wardrobe Malfuction

"Here, new file for you." said a voice from above the top of the desk and suddenly papers rained down on the person sitting at the chair like a colorful rain shower of papers of varying colors and tab dividers onto the work space of the person sitting at the desk. Dr. Vloc finally looked up to see who it was that had decided to pour out the entire contents of a file folder right into his work area that he would now have to pick up and re-arrange. The fact was that the action more than annoyed him and the look up was really more of a glare in the general direction of over the top of the desk. His vision afforded him with a view of none other than Dr. Wynn standing at the edge of the nurses' station desk where he was sitting. Wynn's posture was relaxed and he was leaning his full weight into the desk, his arms crossed leaning on the desk. His feet were crossed in behind him. There was a slight smirk on his face. Wynn's blue eyed grinned looked down at him.

Luke Vloc cast him a resentful look and started to pick up the papers from the folder and stack them back in order, his expression simmering and seething. "Can you tell me..." he finally asked through extremely clenched teeth so that his words came out more differently than usual, "What was the point of that?" He asked, a muscle working in his jaw. "Now I've got to pick it all up!" He responded, his voice harsher than it normally was. He quickly began to reassemble the papers and shoved it back into Wynn's hands.

"Would you mind telling me what it is that's had you in a foul mood for the last week and a half?" Dr. Wynn demanded, fixing Luke with a piercing stare.

"What concern is it of yours?" Luke responded at a low voice, standing up from the chair and busying himself looking through papers in the in tray at the edge of the desk and sorting some papers that had been faxed to the hospital over the last shift. He kept his back turned on Wynn, his brows pulled low over brooding eyes. His mouth thinned and worked to avoid another retort to his superior. He sighed to himself and tossed the new file onto the stack without even bothering to open it up.

"It's my concern because you are a part of my fellowship and you are my student, Doctor. The patients have been noticing your foul mood though you don't speak to them. Not to mention the nurses with whom you've been unnecessarily harsh. I won't tolerate a member of my staff acting in such a fashion. If you want to be a neurologist on my staff I suggest that you re-think your actions and attitude towards the patients and the staff of this department." He said. His voice was low but serious and he leaned forward to be sure that Luke heard him but the others did not. "I understand you've been under a lot what with it the last year of your fellowship and all and pulling 48 hours all the time, but Luke.. it's not good for you to work so much that you're burnt out before you ever perform your first brain surgery solo." Dr. Wynn said, tipping his head to meet Luke's amber eyes pointedly. "Now please, be reasonable and go home and get some sleep you need to get some sleep. You look like you could use a few good square meals and a good deal of rest. You've been here sun up to sundown and sometimes sundown to sunup. It's time that you take a rest." He murmured urgently.

"Don't need a rest, Doc Wynn. I'm fine." Luke responded promptly, turning his head and going back to fiddling with the papers.

"You need something." Wynn responded with a sigh. "You've been off color ever since the m.. I mean Elphaba... woke up." He said, crossing his arms over his chest and fixing Luke with a slightly annoyed look. "You've been ignoring her. You've not even been to see her since she woke up. What was this I heard about you passing her file off to me?" Wynn asked, displeasure creeping into his voice. Quite honestly he was flummoxed. Luke had never shown even one instance of being a poor choice for the fellowship program. He was a hard worker with good people skills and extremely intelligent, so why was he acting oddly now? It was beyond Wynn and he needed to get to the bottom of it before Wynn had to consider other actions. He didn't want to lose his star student to a technicality. Whatever was going on with Luke needed to get solved. Wynn, for his part, had attempted to take over the woman's case. He was unsure whether or not the name in the bag was hers, but she seemed to like it and they did need to call her something other than Mystery Woman. However, what worried him more was that in ten days since Elphaba woke she had remembered nothing and no one had come forward to claim her. Certainly, there were missing people but this was an extreme case. Aside from that, she balked at strange things- which of course everyone did, but a strange thing to Elphaba was the sound of cars down in the street and the sound of a jackhammer in the construction area across the rode where they were working a bad spot in the road. Her reactions put him in the mind of the way someone from a different time would react. Most people with amnesia remembered things like cars and trucks and how to cook supper- they just didn't remember themselves. This strange set of reactions, the odd green skin and allergy to water, the amnesia, the no family coming forward- all of it rubbed him the wrong way and warned him that something simply was not right.

Unfortunately, Luke had been pulling away from her since the night she'd woken up and he'd fallen into the meal cart outside of her room. Almost in direct correlation, or perhaps he was simply reading too much into this. "Doc Wynn, listen." Luke said with a sigh, putting his hands over his face and running them through his hair. "I can't treat this patient. You're going to have to take the case back."

"Luke. You know I won't do that. There's no good reason why you can't take the case. If you come up with one- which you won't- I suggest that you come and fine me. Meanwhile, I've made arrangements for her to see a psychologist downtown and she's being released this afternoon. I expect you to take her there. I've arranged for a flat for her for a few days to try to help her get settled. This is the address and you'll make sure she gets back there safely. Understood?"

"Yes." Luke muttered grudgingly, his eyes burning into Wynn's back as Wynn walked off down the hall. Luke sighed and crossed his arms on the desk and laid his head down on top of his arms allowing his eyes to see only the dark and the small chink of light that snuck in from between his fingers. He took several deep breaths trying to figure out what he was going to do. There _Was_ a good reason why he'd been avoiding the woman from room 195. Doctors and Patients weren't supposed to like one another by any means and the relationship was meant to be strictly professional. He hated to admit it, but the way he'd been thinking about Elphaba was strictly less than professional since the night she'd cursed him out. At first he'd been annoyed that she'd made a fool of him in front of the other doctors.. but then.. a new feeling came. First, he felt impressed. There were very few people he knew who would have the courage to scream at a perfect stranger when they didn't know who they were or where they were or how they'd gotten that way. After that first impressed feeling, there had just been thoughts of her constantly in his mind. There was something about her he liked; she was so strong and independent, yet, not.. at least not right now. He had a strange tingly feeling whenever her eyes fixed on him. Quite honestly, Dr. Vloc thought that Elphaba was one of the most gorgeous women he'd ever had the pleasure of meeting. Everything about her entranced him and that fact honestly terrified him. Sure, he'd had high school and colleges crushes, a handful of dates, one girlfriend or two.. but he didn't think that he had ever taken one look a girl and decided he liked her. This new crush was strange, more powerful that what he'd experienced before. He was too terrified to return to her care and the worry had been causing an extreme lack of sleep or will to eat. All this combined made Luke a more solemn, less friendly person to be around.

Luke was paying so much attention to his thought that he didn't notice one of the nurses sneaking up behind him until it was too late. The nurse smirked and slowly wrapped her hands (tentacles?) around his shoulders and began to rub them gently leaning down to his ear. "You look a little tense, Doc.." She whispered. "Perhaps you could use a hand?" her voice hinting.

Luke leaped out of the chair so fast that his feet almost buckled under him and the chair did skid across the highly polished floor. He looked up wild eyed at the nurse, his mouth working awkwardly. His face was like a flashing color show: red, to white, to red to pink, to purple and back to red now. "Damn, woman!" He finally exclaimed- though not extremely loudly since they were in the middle of the intensive care unit. "Leave me alone will you!?" He burst out, dropping all the files onto the desk and scattering them far and wide before he stalked off down the hall without a glance backward.

"Hm now the only question is... what's eating Gilbert Grape?" The nurse asked.

One of the other doctors shook his head in wonderment. "The only time I've ever seen a man look like that's when he's having girl problems." He said with a low whistle.

"Knock knock.." He said softly, knocking his knuckles against the open door frame of room 195. Normally, once patients were doing better they have been moved from ICU but Wynn decided Elphaba had been through enough and she ought to just stay in the same room where she could be watched and where she would feel secure until she was ready to be released. He peeked slowly into the room looking around the partially opened door to see if she was there. What Luke saw almost made him turn around and run in the other direction before he realized that it really was her. Or well, it was.. but she looked different than he'd ever seen before. Well, granted he'd always seen her standing in a hospital gown. Today, however, she wasn't wearing a hospital gown. She was wearing a dress, not just any dress, either. She was wearing a black dress that looked as if it had walked out of an 1800's Sears Roebuck catalogue. Literally. It looked like the kind of thing Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman used to wear! Luke smirked. He liked the show, his Mom had watched it a lot and he'd watched with her as a teen, but a dress like that was only laughable in modern society. It was, as mentioned, black and made of ruched material with some lines of red shooting through it. It had an a-line skirt, a tiny waist, a lengthy front with a high neck and long, very slender sleeves with a tiny bit of puff at the shoulders only. The sleeves went all the way to the wrist and buttoned twice. The back of the dress fastened seamlessly though it was actually made up of about thirty tiny hook and eye fasteners. The dress wasn't all. Slung around her shoulders was a cloak that looked, frankly, like it belonged to a witch and a pointed witch's hat sat perched on the head. The mass of waist length ebony hair was tamed into a strict braided knot in the back and fastened with lots of pins you couldn't see. There were dress shoes that seemed to match in antiquity to the dress. They were wedge toed boots- ladylike- with maybe an inch or less of heel and fastened up the front with tiny fastenings. They looked very uncomfortable indeed. He ran his eyes up and down her clothing with a slightly startled expression.

"Hello." she responded shortly, her voice hinting that she wasn't in the mood to speak with him. It appeared _she _hadn't forgotten or forgiven the other night quite as easily as he'd expected her to.

"I..." He paused warily. "I thought Dr. Wynn bought you some new clothes?" He asked.

"He did." She responded without further comment. She was standing now, across the room from him looking out of the window down at the busy street below, an odd expression on her green face.

"Well... aren't you... going to put it on?" Luke asked, feeling foolish again. How did she do this?! How did she turn him into a bumbling fool whenever she was in the room?

"No." She responded, her word firm.

"Oh." The two of them exchanged an extremely awkward look.

"Well, you can't go about in that... thing.." He protested, nodding at her current apparel.

"Well I'm not wearing THIS either! I'll just wear what I came with." She said, pointing angrily at something in brown paper on the bed. It was a pair of low cut jeans and a halter top style shirt in plain black that was definitely meant to hug the curves. Curves that Elphaba, though she didn't remember it, had been sensitive about since she didn't have much to speak of. Wynn had good taste but Elphaba obviously didn't interpret it that way!

"Well no offense, Elphaba, but you can't go gallivanting around Topeka in that dress. What would people think? Not when there's perfectly good clothes here that Wynn brought for you.." He said.

"Ozma's Nightgown!" She shrieked, turning on him. "Can't you just listen to me. I'm wearing this dress or nothing!"

Luke's forehead perforated into wrinkles. "Fine. But don't blame me if people stare. Who's Ozma anyway?"

Elphaba gave him a glare and shook her head in answer to the first question. She didn't know. "I'm pretty sure the green skin would do it, if the dress doesn't, doctor." Her voice was harsh and also hurt.

"Oh.. I ... I suppose. But Elphaba, please think sensibly. You look like the Wicked Witch of the West in that get up!"

She quickly turned her back on him and stalked to the window, wrapping her arms around herself trying to keep her face turned to the window so he wouldn't see the pinpricks of tears that were in the corners of her eyes.

"Listen." He said with a sigh, walking across the room. "Wynn made arrangements for you to see a psychologist... someone who studies the human mind in an emotional sense instead of a physical one. Sometimes doctors like this have been able to help people like... you.. who can't remember their past or anything about themselves." He explained. "I'm supposed to take you there and be sure you get through your meeting with this doctor and then Wynn's arranged a place for you to stay and one of us will look in on you every day. We will keep looking for your family." He tacked the last sentence on as an afterthought. He suddenly felt guilty. It was as if they were just kicking her out of the hospital. He knew that was what happened to people who got well, but she didn't have a life or anyone to go home too.

"Fine." She responded. That was how she responded to everything, it seemed, a toneless 'fine.' She sat down on the end of the bed and looked over at him with a less than enthused expression.

"Come along then, I've written up all of your paper work and we should be able to leave when you're ready if you're sure you're determined to go in that ... wardrobe malfunction." He said with a sigh, looking over at her dress.

Elphaba shot a glance that could kill in his direction and got off of the bed, flouncing out of the room with the book bag over her shoulder containing all of her earthly possessions. Luke sighed, shook his head, and followed after her.

He walked her to the front desk where they cut bands removing her patient wrist band and officially dismissed her. She remained silent and said not a word as she walked beside him, straight backed, head up looking around in silent curiosity as they went downstairs into the hallway that would take them to the parking garage where he had put his car. Luke had a Lexus and he was rather proud of that car. It was a dark blue color one with a black interior all done in leather. "This is it." He said, taking out a key ring from his pocket and flicking it at the car. The backup lights on the car blinked as it unlocked. Elphaba looked at the car warily through half opened eyes.

"This is what?" She asked, looking at the car and not moving. "It's pretty I suppose but... "

"It's a car." He offered, feeling silly and looking over at her with a shake of his head. Something wasn't right about this.. how could she not know what a car was? Despite all the tests that he and Wynn had run that had said her brain was in perfect working condition... How could someone not understand the point of a car- get from point a to point be more quickly than by walking or going by horseback. "You get in it and ... go places.. you know drive." He said as he went around to her side and opened the door for her, showing her the spacious inside of the front seat of the car. Elphaba gave him a curious look before sitting down in the front seat and allowing him to put her seatbelt on for her and then do his own as he got into the car and turned on the engine. Elphaba suddenly had a view in the mirror beside her of another car pulling out of the garage from behind. This car was a fancy white sports car and it squealed its tires as it careened around the corner and out of sight.

"Forget it!" She exclaimed, looking at the car in wild horror and struggling to undo the seatbelt, which was the only thing that kept her from leaping right out of the Lexus altogether. She struggled with the metal seat belt clasp, her fingers fumbling it, unsure how to work it properly.

"Elphaba, this is the only way to get across town. It's a long way to Dr. Payne's office.." He told her with a sigh.

"No." She responded, firmly, looking at him.

"Elphaba.. we can't walk there- it's too far and the traffic is bad in the actual city.. it's noon rush hour." He responded calmly as he shifted the gear into reverse and backed slowly out of the parking space into the path behind him towards the exit of the parking lot. He noticed that Elphaba was sitting stick straight with her fingers curved around the seat so hard that her fingers were turning bone white. She had her eyes closed tight and her mouth clenched shut. He shook his head and pulled out of the garage after showing his physician's pass.

"Do-we-have-to-go-far?!" She asked through clenched teeth. Her eyes were shut tight.

"A fair way.." He muttered, resisting the urge to simply burst out laughing at her seeming terror at just riding in a car.

"After we're back from the psycho doctor or whatever he's called. I'm never riding in a car, as you call it, ever again!" She muttered, barely slitting her eyes just in time to see a car run a red light in front of them and she immediately closed her eyes again, obviously terrified. Unfortunately, it was a little bit of a funny thing for being terrified over and Luke couldn't keep a perfectly straight face as he was driving and barely managed to be quiet all the way to the psychologist's as he undid her seatbelt and went to her side of the car to open the door. "After you, milady.." He said, mildly sarcastic. Elphaba didn't even deign to reply as she stood up from the car and stalked off across the parking lot in the wrong direction, the heels of her boots clicking on the pavement.

Wynn sighed and went after her, slowly wrapping his arm around her elbow. She flinched. "Elphaba." He sighed. "Wrong way. The entrance is over here." he said, turning her the other direction and steering her the right way with her fuming silently beside him as they walked. Well, this was going to be a "fun" afternoon...

_I know I promised you'd meet bad guy this chappie in reviews but it sort've grew and got a lot longer than I thought so I decided to split it up. :) sniggers I'm amused. Elphaba sitting here on the couch with me is glaring. I don't think she appreciates my story nearly as much as I do :p Please enjoy, let me know your thoughts! _


	5. Realizations

"What is this place?" She asked softly as they walked towards the building. The parking was crazy considering the majority of people parked in the underground parking service, but Luke had parked in the tiny parking lot above ground noting Elphaba's sensitivity to the last parking garage they had been in and because the rates to park in the building garage were ridiculous and he didn't have a pass as he did at the hospital. The building was one of the biggest sky scrapers in Topeka and was called the Scotia building. The whole thing was an experiment at modernism, a tall building made of steel and glass. Everything was blue, white, and black even the parking lot decorations. The building was set within the grounds of a small park that occupied a corner of the city. The entire thing was tall, shining from the sun's reflection on the glass, and very daunting. She was staring up at the building that towered 60 floors above her with huge eyes.

"Dr. Payne's office takes up one of the floors in this building." Luke explained as he tugged her gently in the right direction. "He sees all of his patients here." Luke told her as he steered her into the building and straight from the lobby into an elevator. The entire thing was made of metal and glass, shined in such a way that you could see your reflection from all sides as well as from the ceiling. There was a panel of brass buttons covered in chrome with the black imprint of numbers on them. They went all the way to sixty and Luke, after consulting the directory on the back wall of the elevator, chose 50. "Sit down." He warned Elphaba, He pulled her gently to the back of the elevator where a little bench sat- metal with a black cushion covered in white design. She sat without complaint, looking down at the floor in alarm as if she expected it to be what was rising.

"What is this thing?!" she demanded, her fingers clenching down around the bench as she looked over at him.

"It's called an elevator. It's a little metal cage that goes up and down between floors in a building so you don't have to walk up or down fifty flights of stairs." He explained.

"Oh.." she whispered, at a loss. "There wasn't one at the hospital."

"Well there was but you don't really need one just to go down three flights of stairs."

"Ouch!" She exclaimed, lifting her hands to her ears and glaring at him.

"What's the matter?" He asked, his voice anxious.

"My ears.." She said, a strange look on her face.

"Oh! I'm sorry I should've warned you." Luke said, suddenly feeling a little bit bad. He seemed to keep forgetting that he needed to tell her things that most people knew already- like that the pressure in your ears would be highly uncomfortable if you went up fifty floors. "All you need to do is yawn. It'll make your ears pop and they won't hurt anymore."

"Pop?" she asked warily, trying it out slowly and then more vigorously as she felt the pressure decrease and her headache instantly vanished. "Oh... that is better."

"You'll need to do that again when we go back down.. it's because of the sudden change of altitude." He explained. "See you can watch the floors on that little light panel up there. We're on floor 34 right now."

Suddenly, the elevator came to a stop and the doors slid open to allow someone who had called for the elevator to get on. A man in a nice business suit and a hat got on. He was carrying a brief case and talking on in an ear-piece headset phone. Elphaba looked up at him and then over at Luke. He nodded a reassurance before looking the man over himself. "You'll never believe what I'm seeing right now, Jennifer." He told the person on the phone. "I'm in the elevator on the Scotia building and there's a... a... green woman!" He was mumbling but Elphaba and Luke had no problem understanding what he said to the person on the phone named Jennifer. At a previous time or place Elphaba probably would have made some sarcastic or caustic comment about not eating grass as a child or something to the effect. Now, though, she simply sat in silence, a hurt expression on her face. It looked as if that was another thing she might have to learn to deal with all over again. People simply couldn't contain their curiosity and sometimes rude comments when faced with something so unusual as a woman with green skin. Elphaba shuddered and got off the bench and stood closer to Luke. She looked up at him and, reflexively, he slowly reached out into the folds of her dress and found her green hand and slipped his fingers through hers. She glanced back at him for a moment in surprise. Gently, he squeezed her hand and a second later he was shocked when she returned the gesture- albeit awkwardly.

They got off the elevator at the 50th floor and neither of them minded saying good-bye to 'mr. nosy man.' Getting off afforded Elphaba with her first view of the place they'd come to. Like the rest of the building this floor appeared to be of that strange style he'd told her was called 'modern.' She looked around curiously. They had exited the elevator into a room that was completely round and also very large. There was no carpet but rather a strange sort of cement on the floor but it shined in a way as to indicate it had polish or a varnish on it making it far fancier than regular concrete. The walls were painted in very dark blue and white and the ceiling was an endless blackness far, far above them with tiny blinking lights set in. There were metal tables and white couches places strategically around the room. There was a desk at the back wall with a receptionist sitting at it shuffling papers and a door to either side of the desk. Two televisions sported CNN news to either side of the lobby area. However, the thing that Elphaba fixed her eyes on was a huge fish aquarium. The thing was at least a two hundred gallon tank- possibly more- in the round, designed like a column, and went floor to probably five feet high. The sheer size of it was almost laughable. It was filled with fish, predictably, all of them were white, black and blue or a combination. The gravel at the bottom and the rocks were all in whites and neutrals to bring out the brilliant colors of the saltwater fish inside even more. Elphaba's eyes were extremely large as she looked at all of the fish in shock. "They're pretty aren't they?" Luke asked her with a smile. "You stay right here and look at the fish and I'll go let the receptionist know we're here." He told her, leading her to the huge tank so that she could look. "Don't move." He reminded her, hurrying off to the receptionist's desk.

This really was a grievous mistake given that, in his absence, Elphaba was busy looking at the fish. One of them- a beautiful black and white fish of big proportions was looking right back at her. "Help me!" said the black and white fish. Elphaba nearly staggered backwards from the tank in surprise. Were animals meant to talk? She'd heard of that before.. where? Where? She didn't know. All she knew was that the fish had asked her to help it. She briefly thought about it. There was a restroom a floor below... she could use the elevator thing and run the fish down to the restroom and put it in a sink and then Luke could help her sneak it out! The plan was perfect! "Don't worry.. I'll get you out." She murmured to the fish. "It's cruel to keep things locked up in cages and and.. water.. things.. where they don't belong!" She whispered, leaning onto her tip toes to see over the top of the tank. Luke was still talking to the receptionist and she wondered how she could attract his attention without getting the unwanted attention of the woman at the desk as well. She slid open the black cover on the top of the tank and the fish had swum up to the filter area at the top. She immediately scooped it out. Of course the fish was thrashing wildly around in her hands now out of the water and she stumbled backwards. "Don't worry little fishy." She spoke more softly to the fish than she probably ever had spoken to anything in her entire life.

Luke was only alerted to the disaster going on behind him when he saw the receptionist's eyes start to go as large as saucers. He was about to ask what was wrong when he heard, "Luke!" He spun around and beheld, in absolute horror, Elphaba standing by the fish tank still holding a black and white fish flopping around madly in her green hands. There was no question as to where she'd gotten it because it was one of the largest and prettiest fish in the whole aquarium! Damn it!

"Elphaba!" he exclaimed, running across the room. "Put that fish back!" He exclaimed, trying to keep his voice calm.

"It told me it wanted me to help it escape?"

Luke's face puzzled for a fraction of a second. This woman had more problems than he'd originally thought. "Elphaba, put it back! The fish LIKES his aquarium!" He protested, wrestling the fish from her hands and immediately throwing the grateful fish back into the water and closing the top of the tank. "Come on the doctor's going to see you now." He said, practically pulling her away from the danger area. _And then I just have to figure out how to put her behind iron bars for the rest of the time she's here before she does anything ELSE disastrous._ Luke thought to himself as he hurried her away towards the door by the desk. He was beginning to see that this could be a little more work than he'd originally bargained for.

The receptionist showed Elphaba into a decent sized room off the side of the desk. She wasn't a very friendly person and to be honest, Elphaba's attempted "fish rescue" probably didn't help matters in the slightest. The woman told Elphaba the doctor would be with her in a minute and then left, shutting the door behind her. This gave Elphaba time to look around the room she'd been left in. The room in itself had the same weird flooring as the main waiting room had. The walls were painted in dark blue and the ceiling black still. The room had a strange white sculpture in it that, as far as she could tell, wasn't supposed to be anything in particular. It was mounted on a black stand in the round. A white curvy couch with black cushion flanked the back wall and a black desk chair sat across from it with a table between them. The table opened up to reveal sand on one side and, she pulled back suddenly, water on the other. She made she to stay far away from that side of the table. Nearer to the door there was a desk covered in papers. One of the walls had a big tablet hung on it and a tray that contained markers of various colors. This was all the decoration the room afforded having not even a simple picture or anything else on it. She had only time to take this in before Elphaba heard the door click and the knob turn and a man came into the room. "Don't you have enough sense to sit down?" He inquired. His voice was rough.

Elphaba immediately sat down as he closed the door. "Tell me about yourself." he said, dropping into the chair across from the couch.

"I... don't know.." Elphaba murmured. "That's why I'm here. I don't remember." She said, sitting on her hands.

"Perhaps you'd care to explain why you're dressed like a nun." Dr. Payne asked with an obvious and derisive laugh.

Elphaba gave him a glare from under the brim of her pointed hat. "These were the clothes I was told I arrived at the hospital with and I preferred to leave with the same as such." She told him, nervously looking at him. She was getting a bad vibe from this man. He did not like her, this much she could tell from the way his almost black eyes were glaring out of his face at her. She wasn't sure what she'd ever done to him to make him decide that he hated her. Elphaba winced fearfully at the blistering tone of his voice. She was beginning to wish that she'd never come here. She wanted nothing more but to leave and she was too scared to tell him she was going to. What was happening to her? Too scared to make a protest at his harsh voice.

"I'm curious how did you become green?" He asked with a smirk, leaning towards her. "I'm pretty sure normally people in Oz aren't green." Elphaba shuddered and glared at him feeling backed into a corner. Had she remember her past this would have meant more to her. It would have caused her to understand he knew far more than she gave him credit for... he knew about Oz and maybe about her. However, she continued unaware. She cringed into the corner of the couch and shook her head, still having no answers.

"Ha!" He said with a smirk. "I'll bet you were sexually abused as a child weren't you?" He asked, advancing on her, towering over her on the couch and she suddenly felt extremely small.

"N... I don't... I don't think so.. I don't remember it if I was." She whispered, her eyes wide. The conversation continued in this vein for a time before Dr. Payne finally lost his temper.

"Damn it, Elphaba you're a good actress this whole thing about not remembering Oz. DAMN YOU!" He exclaimed, suddenly leaping up. He crowded her into the corner and she couldn't react fast enough as he grabbed a cup from the water table, filling it with the dangerous substance and flinging it at her. Elphaba couldn't move fast enough to prevent it. Her hands- already aching from the botched fish rescue attempt earlier- rose in front of her face but not fast enough and both face and hands took the stinging, burning of the water. She let out a shriek of pain, agony really. She hadn't remembered how very much water hurt. "No don't PLEASE!" She begged, but he was filling the cup again and she screamed a second time as he threw it at her, trying desperately to curl into a ball on the floor but he only took advantage, pouring it over her head. Elphaba let out another agonizing shriek and moved to where her face was on the floor trying to crawl in behind the couch unable to anything to ward him off. She felt his weight as he settled down on her, attempting to prize her hands from her face.

At that moment she heard a loud crack and was too scared of getting water poured in her face to look up. "GET OFF HER!" She recognized Luke's voice raised, a rarity and suddenly, the load lightened and she heard a crash that she felt sure was Dr. Payne being flung across the room and heard another strange noise and what sounded like an 'umph!' "Elphaba, did he hurt you?" Luke demanded, but she was in too much pain to be able to respond. Suddenly, the ground was flying away from her and she realized that she was being held in Luke's arms. For his part, Luke was shocked at how little she weighed. Even with her dress- which probably took up a good deal of the bulk. She couldn't weigh more than a hundred pounds- so small. He couldn't think about it right now. He adjusted her in his arms as he pulled her close against him bridal style. She got a glance of Payne in the floor with a bloody nose and a split lip and felt a strange thrill slide through her. Luke had punched him! She felt a shocked sort of feeling come into her and merely turned her burning face into his chest. She noticed, somehow, that he smelled good. He wore some kind of cologne or aftershave with a light scent. He smelled like.. something fresh, grass, wood, the pages of books.. Her face burned, her hands burned.. she was scared. Luke felt her wrap her arms around his neck and bury her face in and he ran from the room without any effort.

On the street he kept holding her close and went to the sidewalk. He shifted her weight to his right arm to step into the street and hold up his left hand. A yellow taxi cab immediately pulled over and he got into the back with her. She realized it wasn't his car and seemed to understand a little bit when the taxi driver asked "Where too?"

"What about your car?" She whispered.

"I'll come back for it. Later." He whispered. "2003 Fairlawn Avenue." He told the driver, holding Elphaba close in his arms. Luckily, Fairlawn Avenue- one of the major streets through the city, wasn't far.

Luke breathed a sigh of relief and paid the taxi cab driver as the man pulled up in front of his apartment. He had a nice apartment in a nice part of town. It was part of a 20 floor building and was near the top. He had paid an interior decorator to buy furniture and match the place. He didn't particularly care, but Luke didn't have plans to move out anytime soon and if he ever had intentions of bringing someone over they'd have been shocked at his abysmal decorating skills- far better to just pawn the job off on someone else. He carried her into the main lobby of the building and headed for the elevator never letting her go and she didn't protest. It surprised and worried him in turns. His apartment was large and took up basically the entire floor. They exited the elevator into a long hall and he dug in his pocket with his left hand for his keys using his right to hold her close. He let himself inside the apartment and shut the door with his foot once he'd brought her inside. "Where are we?" She whispered.

"Home." He said simply. He carried her across the room to the sofa and sat her down gently for the first time sitting down beside her. Her hair had come half down and her face was irritated with the splashes of water, her hands were far worse than her face. "Oh Elphaba.. I'm so sorry." he whispered softly. "I had no idea.. what happened?" He whispered.

She shook her head. "I don't know.. he ... he was really mean to me and... and.. I.. don't know suddenly he swore at me and he said something about.. being a good play actress and dove at me and poured water on me." She whispered, obviously still scared. Luke sighed as he listened to this short, unglorified tale and fetched his medical bag from the kitchen table. He took out long white bandages and gauze and salve. "I'm going to bandage your hands to help them heal." He said softly. "I'll do my best to be careful but this may be painful. I could give you something.."

Elphaba shook her head. "I'm fine. I don't need it." She responded, holding out her hands for him. They were raw obviously burned. He sighed looking at them. How was he going to disinfect her hands? He couldn't use soap and water and oil might be painful. He sighed. "I'll need to use peroxide on your hands." He said softly. "It's not water but it will burn- probably not the way water does though. It'll keep your hands from becoming infected." He told her softly. She only nodded, gritting her teeth. Luke took the brown bottle and a stainless steel bowl and began to pour the liquid over her hands. She held them out for him and he saw her flinch as he poured the clear liquid over her hands and it bubbled and sizzled against her raw skin but she was strong and didn't pull them away until he'd finished. "Sorry." He murmured again. He lifted her hands from the bowl into a soft white towel from the kitchen and tenderly dried them off for her. "This is called Neosporin salve." He told her, holding up a tube of yellow and white with green writing displaying the name of the product. "It's just a salve to help sooth your hands. It'll feel good." He told her, squeezing the salve onto his fingers and very gently began to rub it into her hands. They had extensive and painful looking burns on the fingers and palms. He gently soothed the salve in copious amounts onto the burns and then Vaseline as well. After he'd done this he wrapped an extremely thin layer of gauze around her fingers and palm and white cloth material knotted after that. It made her hands ungainly and not easily able to be used, but it did make them feel better.

"Luke... this is your apartment.. I can't stay here." she whispered with a sigh. "I'd feel awful."

"Don't." He said softly. "You're staying. You're not any trouble." Okay maybe that was stretching it but he took it as his personal fault that she'd been hurt and he wasn't going to take anymore risks. He cared for her deeply, more than he wanted to admit- even to himself- and he'd be too upset if something else happened to her on his account. "You can stay on the sofa bed. It's actually more comfortable than the real bed." He said softly. "and then I can monitor your hands for infection." He tacked on something that he thought sounded remotely reasonable.

"I don't want to be a bother, Luke." she muttered.

"Elphaba." He murmured softly. "You're no bother and I insist you stay."

She sighed and nodded. "Al..." She stopped mid-sentence to give a Grand Canyon sized yawn. "Right.." she finished.

"You must be exhausted." He said with a sigh. "Why don't you rest? I'll make the sofa up for you.. can you stand?" He asked, helping her to her feet and leading her to a chair at the kitchen table. She watched wearily as he moved the coffee table over and tossed the thick cushions off the couch. It was a Euro suede couch in very light brown. It was the sort of couch you sat down on and literally sunk down into. He reached into the couch and grabbed the handles and pulled the bed out. It was a queen sized sofa with a thick six inch mattress that made it every bit as comfortable as a real bed. He went to a cabinet in the hallway and came back bringing a huge handful of bedding with him. It was so much he almost tripped on it. She watched as he took the bottom sheet and put it over the bed and then a regular sheet and a real comforter. It would keep her warm but not too hot. he got a couple of pillows and put cases on them and put them on the bed as well and scooted the table by the couch over so it could be reached from the bed portion and set the lamp back on it. "There we go." He said, pleased with his work.

She smiled, "Thank you." She murmured, getting up and practically crawling over to the bed. She sat on the edge of it and removed her shoes and her socks and Luke couldn't' help but watch in fascination. He'd known her feet would be green too, but actually seeing them was a bit strange. She had tiny feet, he realized. As far as feet went, hers were nice.. slim and narrow with straight toes and, this surprised him, normal colored nails- though he realized her hands were the same now he thought about it. She didn't even bother to undress further- though he realized she might have felt uncomfortable doing so with him there. She merely crawled in under the covers and he could tell that she was fully asleep within minutes.

He moved across the room and sat down gently at the edge of the sofa bed where she slept and he looked around the room apartment. It was big enough for two people, certainly. He wondered how long she would be there and thanked goodness he'd wasted the money to have someone decorate. When you walked in from the door you immediately saw to your left a kitchen which had a partial wall dividing it from a very large living room. The living room was as big as two rooms put together. On the far wall it had a large picture window with a seat that looked down on the street below. It had cream colored drapes. The walls of the room were a pale green/beige mixture. The carpet was the same cream as the furniture. Walking on into the family room if you went past the window you could find a door that led into the one bedroom and a bathroom from there. There was a second bathroom as well but only a half one on the other side of the kitchen. Off the bedroom there was a little balcony. This made for a spacious place. Big enough for a couple. The bedroom was decorated in dark red and white and the kitchen was all in blues. The bathroom was in natural tones and decorated with sea shells. All in all, it was quite nice if he did say so himself. He needed to cook something, he was aware of not having any food in the house but he could do that later when he went back after his car. For now.. he felt the strange and overwhelming need to simply stay here with her and for the first time he let himself be honest.. he liked her. He knew this now. He liked her more than a doctor should like a patient. Then again, was she _technically_ his patient anymore? She was out of the hospital. He sighed puzzling this over in his mind. No. Technically not. It didn't matter. He couldn't deny that he cared for her anymore. He wanted her to be well, to remember.. more than anything he wanted to hold her and kiss her. Silently he kicked himself for the thought.

He looked down at her fast asleep in his couch bed and was so overwhelmed with sudden emotion he choked up for a second. He'd never felt this way about someone before. He sighed softly and reached over and brushed his fingers down her cheek the way he'd been longing to for a while. His touch was gentle and she was exhausted and didn't awaken. He smiled gently and brushed his finger tip lightly along her cheek bone. She looked more relaxed when she was asleep and he could study her features properly. He reached up to brush her ebony hair out of her face and was surprised to see that it felt like silk. She was laying over on her side with her face resting on her arm so he could see about three quarters of it. Her hair fell lightly over her face. Slowly he pulled it back again, running his fingers through the silky tresses. They were perfectly black and beautiful. Her skin was unbroken green and very smooth, perfect complexion and not at all oily or dry either one. She even had perfect ears and he noticed a tiny hole in each .. pierced ears? He raised an eyebrow and chuckled softly tracing his fingers over her ears too. He smiled a bit and looked across her face.. She had a long nose and it was perfectly straight and smooth. It didn't look bad with her face, which was somewhat narrow. She had high and very clearly defined cheek bones that made her look a little bit like a queen. Her cheeks were a bit lighter than the rest of her.. almost.. peachy? not quite.. Her eyes were closed, covered in a slightly dusky purple shadow not caused by makeup. She had very thick black lashes and arched, thin brows above. He tenderly kept tracing his finger along her face as he explored her features. He moved his fingers slowly down to her lips. They were made of a dusky purple/green more green but still shadowed- the same as her eyes... he traced them tenderly. She was beautiful.. green skin or not.

"Elphaba.. what are you doing to me?" He whispered softly. "I think you've put me under your spell..." he murmured softly, too softly to really hear. Slowly, he leaned down and pressed his lips against her forehead and tenderly kissed her there. He drew back after a time and sat there, simply complacent to watch her sleep...

"Yes.. That's right Dr. Henkle. I've found her." the irritated voice of Dr. Payne said in resonating tones over the phone, which he clutched in his hand while nursing a cold compress against his cracked lip. "She's here.. in Topeka." He paused for the reply. "Oh yes I'll daresay she's green enough." Dr. Payne laughed in a way that made the hair stand up on the back of your neck. "I think it fitting don't you? That she should come now.. I'll have her in your hands within the month if I can manage it, sir.. then you'll be able to do whatever it is you want with the little green bitch. It would serve her right.. She's the reason that idiot fellowship doctor cracked my head on the cement floor and punched me. I still got a split lip." He paused again. "Ah yes... revenge is sweet isn't it? A dish best served... wet." he sniggered, pausing again for the other person on the phone to respond. "Just the kind of thing Area 51 will appreciate.. really brilliant of you taking it over Dr. Henkle.. no one even suspects all those army cronies have spells on them do they? Elphaba Thropp will getting what she's had coming to her for an awfully long time. Just please tell me I can be there when you torture her..."

_Right, Um.. thanks to Steph for her description of the Scotia building actually located in Canada. Fairlawn ave. really is in Topeka. Hopefully you liked this chappie it's one of my fave yet. Thanks to everyone who helped! Hint I still love reviews :) _


	6. Elphaba's Kiss

_Boom!_

The thunder rumbled ominously and he could hear the rain pounding down outside, the wind howling crazily in a regular end of summer storm.

Doctor Luke Vloc sighed in relief as he exited the elevator onto his floor in the apartment building he had spent the last three years in. In one hand he was hefting a large, brown paper bag that boasted the name "Baesler's Grocery" in navy blue letters. He carried this bag on his right hip with his arm around it being careful to keep his hand under the bottom of it in case it should decide to try anything funny- like oh, perhaps splitting out the bottom of the bag. In his left hand he had his cell pressed to his ear as it rang. "Wynn." The voice on the other end said.

"Hey Doc.. it's me, Luke." he said. "I wanted to let you know that Elphaba didn't handle her doctor's visit so well today. I think I'm going to take that time off you offered me and try to help her myself. Doc Payne was really ... rough on her and well, I just don't feel right about her having to stay on her own so I've invited her to stay over on my sofa bed for the time being until I can help her assimilate a little bit better. Perhaps the time off will be good for me. It's been awhile since I took any."

"Sure. Thanks for letting me know and tell her I hope she's better soon." Wynn said, feeling genuinely better now that he knew Luke was taking his advice about time off seriously. He hadn't expected Luke to honestly take him for his word but nevertheless, he was glad the younger man was paying attention.

Luke flipped his crimson red Verizon phone shut and dropped it into his jeans pocket. He was wearing a very comfy, worn in pair of light colored jeans and a light weight, loose fitting t-shirt, nice, comfortable off duty clothes that were great for relaxing in. He dug in his pocket for his keys and found the right one and slipped it into the door, turning the knob and letting himself in. He grabbed the key and hung it on the little key holder by the door where he kept all the keys to various things. He stepped out of his tennis shoes using the side of one foot to pull the opposite one off and then reversing it so that he didn't have to lean down and then used his toes to do the same for his socks. He grinned to himself and sat the big grocery bag on the counter in the kitchen and looked around the partial wall to see. It was marginally dark in the room as the only light was in the kitchen. It was his normal grocery shopping day and he'd needed more food. Mother Hubbard's Cupboard was looking bare, so to speak. Luke was actually a pretty good cook. You had to be if you had lived all on your own for three years. He shook his arm vigorously trying to restore feeling and sensation to it as pins and needles crept through his hand as it had gone to sleep carrying the sack upstairs. He glanced swiftly at the clock on the television and noted the time - 10 pm. Good, she'd been sleeping since one that afternoon. She must have been very tired, he realized. After all, she still wasn't completely recovered yet and then with the whole disaster with Dr. Payne.

He began pulling the groceries out of the bag and stocked them away in the pantry and refrigerator in their respective spots before putting the bag inside the little cabinet where he saved grocery bags for future use at a later date. At this moment, he heard the sound of the springs on the couch creak and turned to look over his shoulder and saw a sleep ridden Elphaba sit up in bed. The thought crossed his mind that she looked adorable only half awake with her hair hanging all down around her face. "I'm sorry.. I didn't mean to wake you.." he said softly. "Are you sleeping alright?" She nodded, reaching her hands up slowly to rub her eyes as if still trying to get awake. "Listen, my niece left a pair of her pajamas here and I expect they'd fit you. She's tall like you even though she's only fourteen. I could get them for you. I expect they'd be more comfortable than sleeping in your dress and I doubt she'd mind at all." He said.

Elphaba looked at him and then simply nodded once. Luke rummaged around in a closet until he returned with a folded pair of pajamas and nodded to the bathroom where she could change into them. While she was in the bathroom, he set about making two cups of steaming hot cocoa with milk and marshmallows. It was his Grandma's old recipe, the one she used to make when he was a little boy to eat with butter cookies and he just happened to have some he'd only made a few days before and he got them and set them on the table along with the steaming mugs of the chocolaty drink and placed a spoon in each one for the purpose of stirring. He finished his "midnight snack" preparations a second later when he heard the bathroom door open and she exited the small room gazing at him from shadowed eyes. "Lovely." He said softly as his eyes traveled from head to toe. Silently he thanked his niece for her taste in pajamas and her visit to him two or three months before.

The pajamas were a soft charcoal grey with only a light pink stripe of material at the wrists and waist. The pants weren't horribly baggy but they were loose at the ankles and fastened with a drawstring at the waist. The shirt was a sweater pullover style shirt with a hood lined in the pink material. Elphaba had hardly any hips or figure up top- but what she did have was definitely accentuated by those pajamas! Luke suddenly thanked goodness that he was standing on the other side of a very solid counter top from her so she wouldn't know the problem she'd suddenly caused him. An ounce of shock flickered at the edges of his mind as he shot a quick look downwards and then back up at her. He hadn't expected... _Just.. think about Wynn in a bikini or something! _He mentally advised himself.

However, at that exact moment, something distracted him and caused him to snigger at the some moment. The pajamas, he noted, had a picture of a cow on the front and the words (in pink embroidery around the picture) "Moo with me!" The whole design was small fitting just on the chest and in the back of it, he recalled, it had "RENT" in big letters across the behind of the pants. Oh Gosh.. trust his niece to leave that particular pair of pajamas. He sunk onto a seat at the island in the middle of the kitchen with a laugh.

She looked at him sheepishly. "Mind telling me why I'm wearing pajamas with a cow on them that say RENT on the bottom?" She inquired, her face going a darker green from blushing.

"Um.. it's a long story." he remarked with a chuckle, "But you look beautiful in them." He said, mentally kicking himself for the comment. THINK Luke. THINK before you speak! "Um.. I made hot cocoa and there's some cookies if you'd like some.. " He indicated the table, standing up from where he was sitting and bringing the cups of cocoa from the sink to the island.

"I've never had it." She admitted.

"Never?!" He was shocked. "It's the best on a night like tonight." He nodded at the storm going on outside. Elphaba shuddered as she walked forward towards the island.

Suddenly, her foot caught the edge of the island and she pitched forward. Luke turned just in time to see her and staggered forward the two steps necessarily to get in front of her and grab her before she fell. He had only enough time to register the soft feeling of her in his arms. She was warm and soft and wonderful and that hint was enough to make him wish he could hold her forever. He didn't let go of her as he helped her stand up right and get over her surprise. He got only a one second glimpse of her face, bathed in shock at finding herself in his arms, pressed against him, before a crack of lightning rent the window outside and a resounding boom of thunder reverberated so loud the light fixtures shook. Suddenly, the entire apartment was plunged into pitch black. She let out a soft yell of surprise and Luke cursed. "Elphaba?"

"Luke?" Her voice wasn't completely frightened, just merely surprised.

"I'm here." He said.

"I know.. you're holding me." she whispered, her voice tight in the darkness.

He felt his face go brilliant red as he slowly let her out of his close hug but kept one arm wrapped loosely around her waist as he guided her across the room to be sure that she didn't run into anything in the pitch blackness.

"Thanks." She murmured as he helped her find a stool at the island. He smiled, standing there beside her with his arms gently still wrapped around her. For a brief second he buried his face in her soft hair and she stiffened up in his arms.

"You can let go now." she muttered.

"Oh.. um.. right." He muttered, letting go of her sitting down, this time in the stool beside hers. He handed her her cup and then went and got into the drawer in the kitchen, yelling as he stubbed his toe on the corner of it in the dark. He pulled out a flash light and set it on the counter, turning it on so it provided them with some shadowy light to drink their cocoa by. She took a drink. The stuff was delicious as it trickled down her throat, rich and good in a taste that matched the cookies.

"You're a good cook." She said honestly, taking another bite of cookie. "How did you come to be able to cook that well anyway?"

"Necessity." Luke responded, leaning into the island and resting his chin in one hand as he looked at her. "My Mom always cooked back at home but then my hometown was small enough that I couldn't get the fellowship that I wanted there so I came here." he noted her confused expression. "A fellowship is a special program designed to allow students who're already doctors to study more specialized areas of work. Like me, I'm a neurologist and brain surgeon. However, you couldn't find a fellowship for that at a tiny hospital- so I came here, to Topeka. It was my first time really being on my own and the first few weeks I nearly starved. I sort've realized at that point it was sink or swim. I had to learn to cook. I can make about anything now- provided I have the recipe." He amended. He noticed her soft hint of a smile- she had a beautiful smile and he knew right then he wanted to make her smile again. It had been so fleeting he could hardly have been positive she did smile.

"You.. mentioned you had a niece? You must have some siblings."

He grinned and nodded, "Yep- a brother- he's about ten years older than me- we were pretty far apart. I don't get to see her as much now because she's starting high school in a month but.. she's a good girl. She makes excellent grades and she wants to be an actress. She's obsessed with all things musical." He admitted with a smile. "Her favorite Broadway musical is Rent. I got her some tickets to go see it in New York City for her birthday in a month." He said with a smile. "Her mom left when she was pretty young and so whenever her Dad's gone on business or whatever, she comes and stays with me."

"What's Broadway?" She asked, tilting her face and resting her chin in one hand, taking a drink of cocoa.

"Oh.. it's the biggest, grandest theatre in the United States. It's in New York City and it's actually a district of theatres. They put on different plays with elaborate pieces of costume and set. Absolutely amazing really. I've been a few times." He added, tacking it onto the end.

"How old are you?" She asked.

"Twenty questions much?" He smirked. "I'm thirty two." He said with a smile up at her. It might as well be thirteen given what she was doing to him. He hadn't had these kind of problems: pounding heart, dizzy, breathless, nervous, and... other.. problems.. around a girl since he was in his freshman year of high school. Dag blame it. Why couldn't he just enjoy sitting next to her and not have to worry about any of these extra problems that seemed to come. "I'd ask you how old you were but.." She just chuckled.

"Not polite to ask a lady how old she is..."

"Yes well.. you don't look a day over twenty so." He smirked. She blushed.

"Touché." she muttered with a grudging grin that shone through her slender green fingers and his heart rate rose a bit more with her soft smile. "Tell me more about yourself." She requested and he found himself complying. He told her of his childhood, he told her of his ambitions to become a doctor so he could study mysteries and so he would be able to help people. He told her of being his class valedictorian and studying his major in life sciences in college. There was a strange look in her eyes when he mentioned that, but she didn't speak. Luke continued his story. He told about his love for animals and his regret that he didn't currently have one as his childhood home had always had a dog and two or three cats and various other animals that his mother had called a 'menagerie'. He told her about trips he'd taken as a child and what being in medical school was like and she merely listened with an honestly interested expression on her face as the thunder crashed and the lightning flashed and they stayed safe inside, warm and dry.

Luke smiled as he refilled her cup of hot cocoa for her a third time and she took a deep sip. He laughed softly when she set the cup down. "What?" she inquired.

"You have hot chocolate on your nose." He whispered with a chuckle. He reached up with the tip of his finger to brush it off and suddenly froze. Her dark brown eyes met his amber ones and they both stopped suddenly just staring into each other. Her heart was pounding and somewhere deep down she knew that this was a moment of truth as she stared up at his sweet face looking down at hers. Her heart pounded crazily. All she could manage at this moment was to stare into his eyes and then suddenly he leaned forward.

It didn't work out like he'd intended. Their noses bumped awkwardly and both of them pulled back, blushing and covering their mouths with their hands in surprise. He reached forward slowly, his eyes still locked with hers and she didn't want to stop him. It surprised her how strong the urge to let happen whatever might happen, was. She shuddered softly as he reached up and slowly took her face in his hands, tipping it upwards. He just looked into her eyes for a moment and then leaned forward and her eyes flickered closed as he leaned forward and gently pressed his lips against hers. There was only a brief second where she hesitated against his lips and he couldn't quite tell if she had kissed back or not- he suspected not, but she didn't pull away either.. he did after a moment. The kiss had been soft, short.. sweet.. awkward.. everything that first kisses were said to be.

Elphaba slowly lifted her fingers to her lips. They were burning, but not the way that her skin did while in contact with water. This was a whole new kind of burning and it was far more pleasurable! Her face was so sweet in that moment as a hundred emotions rushed across her face. Shock and surprise mostly as she felt her tingling lips with her fingertips. "Um..." She whispered, finally pulling back, her heart pounding as crazily as a rabbit caught in a snare. "I... I .." She stammered, her eyes darting across his face in her nervousness, her mind racing. "I think we should go to bed.. it's.. it's getting late." She whispered, looking over at the clock.

He sighed, spell broken. Ironically, the clock had just struck twelve. He watched in frustration as she fled the table and ran to the sofa bed, crawling beneath the covers into her seclusion again and he kicked himself for possibly moving to fast with her, but no matter how hard he tried. He laid in his bed and looked at the ceiling, tossing and turning. He couldn't forget the burning of his lips on hers for the few seconds the kiss had lasted.. It was as if someone had lit a fire in him.

Elphaba huddled beneath her blankets. She was the opposite of sleepy. Her mind was racing with thoughts with confusion and she wished she could go to sleep to forget some of this.. but sleep seemed to allude her. She stayed snuggled under the covers clutching one of the pillows close as she listened to the sound of the wind and the rain and distant thunder of the retreating storm. Her lips still burned and shimmered with the feel of his split second kiss. It was hours before she drifted into a fitful slumber...

_You're getting spoiled today my pretties.. two chappies in one day totalling about 7k in length I can't believe I wrote that much today. I must really be on a streak. Who totally loved the Rent/Idina Menzel reference XD! I'm sorry I really couldn't help adding it! More Soon!_


	7. A Little Monkey Business

Elphaba had been with Luke now for two weeks and though her memories showed no sign of returning, she was rapidly improving. Every afternoon they went out for some kind of recreational activity that he used to help her re-gain her physical strength. Elphaba wasn't as strong as she used to be after a month in a coma and Luke predicted it would take at least that amount of time for her to recover physically. He held no estimated outlook for the returning of her memories. He felt that someday they would surely return but he had no idea how long that would take and he was completely ready to take as much time off as he needed until such a time as he was sure she would be alright on her own. Deep down he felt that the issues were far deeper than a simple (or not so simple) case of amnesia. She didn't act like a person who had merely gotten into a tornado and falling, hitting her head and then winding up in a hospital in a coma. No, there was something else deeper going on. After his observations of her - he'd been keeping detailed notes unbeknownst to her- as preposterous as it was, his only theory was that she was from a different time and even that didn't explain all the oddities and, well, it really was preposterous. Right? However, it was the only idea or solution he could come with and she of course couldn't be asked as she didn't remember anything. So, he would just have to keep observing and helping her. Not that that was a particularly bad job! He had found that he not only liked her in that way but that she was nice to have around. He loved her sarcastic and sometimes even caustic tone and her witty way with words. He loved the rare smile and the discovery that she had a dimple in each cheek though it was so rarely seen...

She was learning to trust him and he was learning to trust her and their relationship became more steady and easier. They were together most of the time, but now she was beginning to demand a little independence- he would have been worried, concerned at her pulling away if he didn't somehow understand that that was just Elphaba. The amount of time she had to spend leaning on his shoulder made her crave that independence even more. He also learned that Elphaba was not a morning person by any means and that she suffered from bouts of insomnia for which she refused to take any medicine. She preferred to sleep in until nine or ten in the morning- sometimes she didn't crawl out of bed until noon even and she stayed up until one or two in the morning and even past that she would toss and turn or get up at night simply to walk about the house aimlessly. He wasn't sure what he attributed this too but he didn't mind. Luke was used to being up for long hours at a time and he was neither a morning person or a night person. Twelve years of work and school at odd hours had turned him into a person that literally could adapt any sleeping/waking pattern within a day or two and so he slept when she did for the most part. Every morning he got up early - usually around six and went out. Elphaba didn't know where he went and she didn't ask nor did he volunteer the information. Normally he ran errands- paid the bills, went to the store, went running, biking, went and had coffee and read the newspaper, called Wynn to check on his patients and very occasionally went in to check on one of them. Whatever it was, he'd come to realize over the past two weeks, seemed to just be a way to while away time until he could go home and be with Elphaba again.

This gave her the necessary time alone she required and by the time he came back sometimes she was awake sometimes she was still sitting in the couch, her hair amuss, reading some book or watching the news with a cup of coffee. She took her coffee black and regular. He was afraid to mention that the caffeine probably didn't help her late night ramblings and knew that no matter what he said- she wouldn't listen anyway. He liked the mornings when he came back and she was still in her pajamas. He would bring her lunch and lunch for himself as well. She loved wraps, she'd never had them before, and discovered a love of potato chips as well. He would bring back her favorite from the deli on the corner and the smile she rewarded him with when he walked through the door was enough to make his heart pound. He felt ridiculously like one of those little school boys trying to impress the teacher. What was that old Van Halen song? Hot for Teacher- yeah well.. he had it. She would get out of bed and go to the bathroom and clean up using oil. Sometimes she did that same at night and sometimes not. She would come from the bathroom dressed and looking much better. After a long fought battle Luke had finally gotten her to agree to letting him supplement her wardrobe. She had insisted upon dresses like her black one but he reminded her you couldn't buy that sort of thing anymore. He chose more modest clothing for her that showed little skin just as she preferred- he lived for when she changed to her pajamas and he could see the tiny strip of her green stomach at the bottom of her pajama shirt. In the day time there were black dresses or long sleeved blouses with skirts. He tried to make sure all he bought was below her knees and things didn't draw undue attention. Quite honestly he wished more than anything he could take her into wearing that pair of tight jeans and black halter top but he had a feeling that would never happen- she was too self conscious.

After lunch they went out together for physical activity. He took her on walks, taught her to ride a bike (none too easy a task), tried to teach her about inline skating, took her for drinks at an outdoor cafe. The weather was brilliant and sunny lately and this particular afternoon he'd elected on trying something new with her.

"Your turn." Luke said with a big grin, walking across the wooden floor in the funny little blue and red shoes and sitting down at the little bench where she was sitting in front of the scoring machine.

"Right.. let me get this straight." Elphaba said, getting up and walking across to the step up onto the wooden platform. "I take this ball." She slipped her fingers into the holes in the surface of the ball and held it up with a look on her face that was close to laughter. "And walk over there and roll it down the wooden area and try to knock down as many of those as I can." She nodded down the lane towards the set up of the ten pins. "Okay.. here goes nothing." She murmured, walking forward. She raised the ball in front of her and whipped it backwards. Unfortunately, Elphaba, inexperienced at bowling, didn't realize just how tightly you needed to hold on and it bounced backwards. Elphaba dived out of the ball's way- it missed her by inches and she heard a sound that roughly, had she remembered, would have put her in mind of the maunts singing their hymns to the Unnamed God. She spun around to see a certain blonde haired, amber eyed person rolling around on the ground, legs drawn, eyes closed, mouth clenched. "I thought you said throw it?!" She demanded.

"Yes! At the pins!" he groaned.

"Er.. " she muttered, looking down at him. "Are.. are you okay?" She asked, tentatively.

"Wonderful." he muttered.

"Hey, being sarcastic is my job."

"What did you expect me to say? No I'm not okay - you just threw a twelve pound missile at a... very sensitive area!"

"I'm .. sorry." She murmured with a sigh, sitting down at the scoring machine and he managed to get off the floor and walk over to sit beside her. She looked away.

"Hey.." he whispered. He reached over and brushed her black hair from out of her eyes. "Don't worry. I'm okay you didn't mean to do it you just let the ball get away from you." She nodded, though obviously still feeling bad. "Come on I'll help you this time." He said. She finally nodded and they walked to the lane together. He reached around her shoulders and lined his arm up gently with hers looking over her shoulders as he wrapped his arm around hers and pulled it backwards in illustration, thrusting it forward and the let go. The ball rolled straight down the alley, a blur of jade green spinning and spinning. It smacked right into the lead pin, the sweet spot, and all ten pins went down.

Elphaba let out a soft exclamation of surprise- as close as she'd ever come to a shriek as she leaped up slightly and wrapped her arms around his neck and shoulders in a tight hug. Luke felt very guilty as he took advantage of it, a thrill running through him when he felt her pressed gently against him, this time her hugging him and he tenderly wrapped his arms back around her waist. He pressed his hands gently against the small of her back and the area around her shoulder blades. He couldn't resist breathing in her scent as he pulled her close. The smell of her hair, lavender, like her shampoo. She washed her hair normally using gloves to protect her hands and being extra careful to let the water touch nothing but her hair. He loved the lavender scent but she smelled like sunshine and books too and something else he couldn't completely identify and he felt the extreme desire to keep her there in his arms and hold her. Unfortunately, the moment was over all too soon as she broke away, her face full of a deep green blush. "Um." she muttered, awkwardly.

"Yeah.. Strike." He said with a grin, but he couldn't seem to make his eyes break away from hers to look over at the pins.

"Arggh! another strike?"

"Yep and that's three and a row- what'd you say they call that? Turkey?"

He sighed. "Come on you've already been beating my socks off. I swear you've got some case of beginner's luck. Let's walk over and get ice cream. There's a nice stand with home made ice cream and waffle cones only a couple of blocks over and we could go on a walk in the park while we eat it." He suggested and she readily agreed. Luke felt relieved to turn their shoes back in and procure their regular ones. They walked over to the ice cream vendor and spent a couple of minutes making their decisions. For Elphie it was a cone stuffed with scoops of mint and Neapolitan and for Luke a cone with butter pecan. "Four scoops?" Elphaba asked with a smirk as they were handed their chocolate lined, ice cream filled cones.

"Hey I'd say I'd earned it today." He pointed out with a grin, taking the ice creams and handing her hers as they walked down the street to sit down under some shady trees at the park. The sun was warm and Elphaba reluctantly shrugged out of the coat portion of the black dress she was wearing. It had short sleeves and a regular waist and fell a little way past her knees. She'd bought the denim jacket to wear over the top to hide as much of her skin as possible, but it was simply too hot for wearing the jacket outside today. He couldn't help but smile as she peeled it off and he was watching so attentively that he didn't notice the bird take a dive bomb for his ice cream until it was too late. "Hey!" He exclaimed as the ice cream cone was knocked from his hand and fell with a _Splat! _right onto the ground. He sighed a bit and looked over at Elphaba who was trying to hide a laugh behind her green fingered hand.

"Nice.. realll nice." He said with a sigh as he looked at the ice cream already melted into a pool at his feet. She sniggered again watching him over the top of her own ice cream. The sight of her eating that ice cream was almost enough to cause Luke an entirely separate sort of problem that had nothing to do with losing his ice cream. He quickly shifted his train of thought away into safer waters.

Elphaba sighed a bit, "Well you can have mine." She said, handing him the cone with a smile.

"What about if we share it?" He suggested, meeting her eyes for a minute.

"Oh.. kay.." She murmured, awkwardly, feeling her face heat. She wasn't so sure about the idea but.. what did she really have to lose? _It's just an ice-cream, Elphaba- for Shiz sake. What's Shiz? _

He smiled and took a lick of the mint ice cream before handing the cone back to her. She kept her dark eyes trained on him as she took a bite of it. Suddenly, she felt very hot and dizzy and.. nice.. Something deep inside told her that she needed to stop this ridiculousness before she got hurt. He surely wasn't having those heart rendering sensations that were flooding her just now. She didn't even know, really, what she felt except that it seemed dangerous, but she couldn't think about it right now. Not while she was sharing an ice cream with Luke sitting here on some random park bench. "Here we should sit closer so we don't .. drip ice cream all over." He suggested, scooting closer to her. This made his knee press gently into her leg just very slightly and that was enough to make him happy. And thus, they shared their ice cream in relative silence, both wrapped up in their individual silences and thoughts.

When the ice cream was finished and they'd wiped their mouths and fingers as well as possible with the napkin around the ice cream cone, Luke had another suggestion. "Listen.. I know you're.. not big on crowds or anything but.. well.. one of the other docs at the hospital is hosting a small get together at her house tonight. A barbeque in the back yard and then a movie. I was thinking.. if you weren't extremely opposed, we could go. I know everyone will be polite- they're all friends of mine and I'm sure they're anxious to see how you're getting along since you got out of the hospital and all." He said.

To his surprise, Elphaba didn't say no. "A movie like we watched the other night?" She inquired. A few days ago he'd broken out his stash of DVDs and she'd been captured with the whole idea of movies. The idea that she could escape into someone else's life and problems and not think about her own for awhile.

"Yeah, except I think the one she's going to show is one called ET. It was my favorite as a kid." Luke offered with a grin.

"Well.. I guess.. I don't mind." She said. "If you want to go I'll go too." He was surprised and happy at this answer and offered her another smile.

"Well we'll just go back and get the car and we can leave we'll probably be right on time." He suggested tentatively, to which she nodded and as they were walking back he surprised her by tentatively reaching over and slipping his hand into hers. At first she stiffened and he thought she was going to pull her hand away, but she didn't. He felt his heart suddenly pound crazily in his chest and gently he squeezed her hand. She didn't return it, but he thought it something that she didn't pull away either. It made him want to smile the whole time like an idiot. He barely contained the urge.

"ET want to go hooommee!"

Elphaba actually laughed. "Keep doing that and they'll be auditioning you out for the role, Luke." she told him with a snigger, the sarcasm in her voice obvious.

"Hey be nice.. I love that movie." He said with a grin as they walked down the darkened floor of the apartment and Luke reached for his keys.

Suddenly, Elphaba stopped dead and he ran right into her from behind. "Hey! you could've told me you were going to st-..." He was cut off suddenly by her pressing her hand over his mouth. It shouldn't have but it brought shivers all through his body. If he hadn't thought it would get him slapped and ruin all he'd gained with her so far he probably would've kissed her palm. Instead, he resisted the urge, noting the tenseness in her shoulders. "What is it?" He whispered.

"You didn't leave the door unlocked did you?"

"No..." he said.

"Someone's been here.." Elphaba whispered, nodding.. sure enough, the door was ajar by about an inch. Suddenly, the dark felt far less safe and imposing than it had a few minutes ago in the elevator and Luke immediately stepped forward so he was in front of her and this time it was a mutual thing when they both reached for each others' hands. She stepped up and he instantly wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her close to him. This time it wasn't an expression of romance but more an expression of determination to keep her safe. Neither of them spoke as they crept towards the door and Luke gave it a gentle push open. It took a minute for their eyes to adjust to the light and when they could see.. it wasn't good. The house literally looked as if Elphaba's tornado had gone through the living room. Every piece of paper in the place littered the floor, the lamp on the table by the couch was shattered on the floor as well as other dishes and vases. The television was messed up and flubbing with black and white fuzz, the couch bed was completely stripped with the pillows laying on the floor, the sheets drug across the room. The curtains were in piles on the floor and the valance rod had crashed to the floor and knocked over one of the chairs from island. Other chairs were scooted away from the table. The freezer door was open and food was spilled across the floor some in packages some not. All the books were off the book shelves laying in the floor opened, the pages blowing slightly in the breeze from the open window. The lamp shade was broken, the fruit from the bowl in the center of the table was laying on the floor. There was water on the floor too. The cabinets were all open as well.

They hadn't even had time to adjust to the knowledge of the ransacking of the house before something else happened. A sinister shadow leaped down from the top of the tallest book case into the center of the room. Neither of them were sure right off what the shape was except that it was fairly large and hulking. Slowly, the shape began to emerge from the shadows. At first it looked like a small child crouching down in the center of the room. The shape wore a red coat with gold trim and a little gold shirt underneath. He wore a little red hat perched jauntily on his head and little shoes with pointed toes. The most obvious thing, though, was that the little coat had a couple of rips in back.. and what protruded out could be described as nothing else but a pair of blue wings similar to that of a dragon. The wings were thin skinned with ribs of bone running through them. It also became clear within a moment that it was not a child... it had brown fur to match the blue wings and when the figure turned its face... Luke and Elphaba were staring into the black, shining, inquisitive eyes of a... monkey!

Both of them froze as did the monkey staring at them. "I think we have a problem." Luke whispered, not daring to take his eyes off the little monkey.

Suddenly, the monkey did something that Luke would have said was impossible if he hadn't just seen a monkey with a pair of blue wings wearing a little jacket standing in the middle of his ransacked living room. It spoke.

"Elphie! Chistery find Elphie!"


	8. Monkeynapped!

Elphaba looked down at the little monkey in shock as she recoiled back behind Luke in horror. How did this ... thing... know her name? Not even her name a horribly shortened... hyper... version of it. Well, that was the best word that she could think of for reference to the nickname and she could see instantly why she hadn't bothered to remember it. It was such a stupid name! The monkey capered forward and grasped her hands looking up into her eyes and she merely pulled her hands away. It wasn't like her, but then again, not only did she not remember this little monkey but nor did he hold significance to her. She was tired, scared, and frustrated. What other secrets were there for her to wonder into when she wasn't expecting it? What other mysteries was she going to uncover before she understood her past? She pulled even more behind Luke and he stepped in front of her.

"Elphaba... go into my room and wait." He instructed with a sigh. She didn't have to be told twice and immediately disappeared from his side into the messy living room. From somewhere inside he heard a door close and what sounded suspiciously like a dry sob. Her reactions puzzled him. All he could suppose was that it had been too long of a day and coming home to find a winged monkey in the living room...

Chistery looked up at the man with wide, black eyes. Why did Elphaba react to him this way. He had been with her since... since forever. He had been with her from before she even became an outlaw. Since the day she had fled the Wizard's Palace. They belonged together. He, like she, was a freak. He had never wanted to fly... the wizard made that up... but he didn't begrudge her the blue wings. She hadn't known that she was being tricked. Back then she was a naive Shiz student who had wanted nothing more than to be a success. She had just wanted to make something of herself in the world and not be a green freak anymore and she had thought the wizard held the answers for her. The two of them fit together now, two oddities, two things that shouldn't be. A witch who wasn't really a witch with green skin and a monkey with wings. However, the feeling of being pushed away by her.. the only person who'd ever cared for him- after all, he'd been only a small monkey when she'd found him, pushing him away so roughly. He and the other man looked at each other extremely warily back and forth, neither daring to move. Chistery's little heart was pounding crazily within his brown furred chest. It seemed minutes before either of them moved or spoke as if they were both too scared.

It was Chistery who broke the silence. "Elphie." He said, pointing a finger off towards the shut door of the bedroom.

"Elphie?" Luke murmured, "Elphaba?" He tipped his head towards the bedroom door.

"Yes. Chistery's Elphie." The monkey responded, pressing his hand over where his heart was.

Luke didn't want to admit that he suddenly felt jealous. Of a monkey! This was absurd! Maybe he shouldn't've had that drink at the party tonight... he had to be hallucinating. That was it, and he'd wake up the next morning and it'd be just a regular old morning. "You.. know her, then?" Luke asked carefully, not wanting to put ideas into the monkey's head.

Chistery nodded, elated that the human seemed to learn so fast. He was a clever one like Chistery's Elphie. "Chistery." He said, pointing to himself with one thumb.

"Chistery.. is that your name?"

"Me Chistery." The monkey repeated, putting his palm on his heart. "Chistery love Elphie." He said simply.

Luke sighed a bit, okay he could see that treating this monkey like a monkey wouldn't get him anywhere. It obviously thought and had feelings. Luke leaned over and shut the door behind him- just in case- should any of the neighbors be feeling the need for a little midnight walk ... He leaned down on his knees to be on the same level as Chistery. "Luke." He said, gesturing to himself. "Loves.." he pointed to his heart. "Elphie." He pointed towards the bedroom. "Too." He felt his throat get tight.

Chistery cocked his head as if trying to make out exactly what Luke meant by it. "Chistery share." He finally agreed at length.

Luke couldn't help but feel his face breaking out into a grin. "How long have you known Elpha... Elphie.." He corrected.

"Long." The monkey responded. "Years. Elphie rescues Chistery from the Wizard?"

"The Wizard?" Luke asked, feeling his eyes growing wide as he was drawn into the story even more. After all, it was only natural for Luke to cling to any scrap of information he could find about the woman who had taken his heart without even trying to. Now he was faced with a possibly veritable well of information about her. He needed to find out as much as he could. Was this not the very thing she needed. The vital step to retaining her lost memories- someone with information about her past could help her.

"Yes, Sir." Chistery said evenly. "The Wizard of Oz."

Luke blinked slightly, pausing. Suddenly, he began to laugh outright. "You spin a good tale, Chistery the monkey." He said, sitting down on the messed up couch and putting his face in his hands to try to control his laughter. "For a minute I almost really believed you. That was a good one."

Chistery glared at Luke and crossed his little arms. Luke looked up at him with a surprised expression on his face.. the monkey didn't seem to be reacting like people normally reacted when they'd finished a joke or a prank. He merely looked annoyed and as frustrated as Luke was beginning to feel. He knew deep down that he was grappling with things above his head.

"Chistery no laughing. Elphie rescues Chistery and Chistery's friends. Elphie takes us away from the evil Wizard who makes Chistery and his friends serve him. Chistery and his flying monkey friends loyal to Elphie but Chistery is Elphie's favorite."

Luke raised his eyebrow trying to pretend to be serious. "Right, who's Elphaba then? The Wicked Witch of the West?" He asked, letting out a guffaw of laughter.

"Yes."

Luke's laughter broke off suddenly. "You're serious aren't you?" wait... a winged... monkey... witches... No! That wasn't possible. Elphaba was simply a strange, out of sync woman who'd been in a. Tornado. Kansas. Memories flashed through his head of the children's movie Wizard of Oz. No... no no no it wasn't possible. Even so, even Luke himself couldn't deny the similarities. He couldn't deny that she came from the wrong time, but he had never thought there was a chance she came from a different _place _as well. A different world entirely and he still wasn't completely convinced that this was what had happened.

Chistery nodded slowly and raised a finger to his head and patting the side of it twice. "You human. Not Munchkinlander. Slooowww human."

"Yes well.. Elphaba's a human too in case you've forgotten.."

Chistery slowly shook his head. He suddenly looked sad.

"What are you saying?"

"Chistery's Elphie _half_ human. Half Munchkinlander."

"Oh.." Luke said, feeling he must have missed that part of the Wizard of Oz somewhere, though he wasn't sure where. He was feeling, quite honestly, bewildered and frustrated. When he'd said he wished Elphaba would remember her past, he had hardly been wishing for her past to be some sort of a children's fairy tale. Luke was a man of science, he didn't deal in children's stories. "But.. wait wait wait.. hold everything." Luke said, holding up his hands.

The monkey chattered. "Chistery hold." He said.

Luke rolled his eyes. "I don't mean literally." He protested with a sigh. "The name of the story is the _Wonderful _Wizard of Oz.. " His heart dropped suddenly. "and that little girl.. Dorothy.. I think it was.. was sent to kill the Wicked Witch of the West. Or did your story leave that part out? It doesn't seem very reliable to believe that the Wicked Witch of the West is so.. caring as my Elphaba." He said.

"Elphaba no Wicked! Elphaba _misunderstood. _Like Chistery." He said firmly. "Elphaba freak."

"What.. people don't normally have green skin in Oz?" Luke laughed, hardly able to believe he was carrying on a conversation with an Ozian flying monkey. This was absurd! He'd stopped believing in fairy tales a long time ago.

"No. Chistery has never met anyone but Elphie with green skin."

"Oh.. anyway.. you were explaining about the Wizard?"

"Wizard is not Wonderful. The Wizard of Oz is evil." Chistery said, his voice hinting that he found Luke beyond slow.

"Evil?"

"Yes. Wizard has his own agenda. Wizard came to Oz in a hot air balloon years ago. Wizard like the fame people give because he comes from another world." Chistery explained. "Wizard got so happy with the fame that he got rid of our ruler. She was a baby then, Ozma Tippetarius. No one knows what happened to Ozma. Some say she still sleeps, hidden, and will remain sleeping until it is safe for her to awaken. Wizard then set himself up in her palace and start to try to rule our country. Within a few years, Wizard begins to persecute Animals."

"Oh.. well I'm sorry about the animals."

"No! _Animals_."

"That's what I said.. animals."

"No! Luke say animals.. Wizard persecutes Animals."

"What's the difference?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Animals speak. They think. Like People."

"Like you?"

"No. Elphie teach Chistery to speak. Elphie use Chistery to try to continue Dr. Dillamond's work. Try to prove Animals, animals and humans all related."

Luke shook his head, suddenly feeling like he was on information overload.

"Tis a grievous thing to hurt a talking Animal. They are special. The Wizard create laws against Animals. He say they cannot work. They have to live certain places. He say they can be used in rituals and sacrifices. He forbid them to learn to read. He oppress them so much they stop talking. They wind up like Dr. Dillamond."

"What happened to him?"

"Died. In the Wizard's Palace."

"Oh..."

"Was Elphie's teacher. At Shiz."

"Shiz?"

"Shiz is school. School where you can study magic or sorcery or even Life Sciences or Biology."

"So.. so.. wait rewind.. you're telling me that everything I've ever been told about Oz - like the movie all the books they're all real but they messed up the fact? The Wizard is really a cruel ruler who doesn't belong on the throne of Oz and has ruined the country and that really The Wicked Witch of the West is not a wicked witch?"

Chistery nodded. "Elphie not witch."

"I thought you said she was the Wicked Witch of the West?" Luke sighed, his head swimming in circles.

"Yes. Not witch. Sorceress. Not willing either. She major in Life Science but she read Grimmerie, no one else can read."

"Witch.. sorceress what's the difference?"

"BIG difference." Chistery exclaimed so adamantly that he didn't press the issue.

"Wait.. Grimmerie.." Luke's head snapped up and he leaped to his feat from the side of the couch and hurried across the room towards the black bag that was laying by the window and he shoved the bag open and reached inside. He pulled out a very old book with peeling cover. It was a deep emerald green and the pages were yellowed with age though the book was well kept for something so old. The silvery words across the front said "The Grimmerie" and he carried the book over to the sofa and flipped it open to a random page staring as the words swum before his eyes. They didn't make any sense... they were an old language of some sort. The book itself had been hand written, in fact. It could have been hundreds or even thousands of years old. "El... ele..ka nahmen.. ah.." He muttered.

"NO!" Chistery screeched and fell backwards off the couch, tearing the book from Luke's hands as he went. He held the book close to him, shuddering. "Luke must NOT read from this book." The monkey's eyes were huge with fright.

"Why not?" Luke asked. "You said Elphaba reads it."

"Yes! Elphie read Grimmerie. Luke no read Grimmerie. Baddd things happen to people who read book sometimes. If misspoke words cause horrors." he whispered. "When Elphie's sister, Miss Nessarose..."

"Wait.. the Wicked Witch of the West has a sister?"

"Had. Girl from Kansas' house landed on her. Wicked Witch of the East. Stop interrupting."

Luke smirked.

"Miss Nessarose tried to use book to make Boq love her. She took his heart away. Miss Elphie had to use spell to make him able to live without heart. Boq became man of tin. Boq hates Miss Elphie now for give him a cursed life. A life with no heart. Wishes Miss Elphie had let him die."

Luke swallowed. "Wait.. you mean.. that's how the tin man was created?"

Chistery nodded. "Grimmerie is dangerous. Elphie only can read and understand it. Because she is a child of both worlds."

"Then explain, if she's not really a witch or wicked how she got the name. There has to be some reason the Wizard didn't like her." Luke said, trying desperately to hang onto some thread of reasoning.

"Yes. Elphie stood up to Wizard for persecuting Animals. Elphie dreamed Wizard would like her when she met him. Elphie dreamed her gift of Sorcery would make stand out. Dreamed the Wizard would make her his partner. Gave up all that when the Wizard tricked her into reading from the Grimmie. Tricked her into giving me and the other monkey servants wings." He whispered, lifting up one of the wings for a minute. "Elphie rescue Chistery and Friends from Wizard and for that we go with her. We loyal to her. Elphie stand up to him. Elphie realize he is not a good man. Realize he is not Wonderful. Becomes an outlaw. Wizard paints her out to be evil to save his own skin. People believe because Elphie is different. People do not like things they no understand." Chistery whispered, hanging his hand. "People do not like different."

Luke sighed, sitting down on the couch. "I understand that.. people in this world don't like people who are different either."

"People not know truth about Elphie. They no take time to find out. They confused. They think she's a witch and evil only because they believe what they are told. Elphie not evil. Chistery's Elphie." He repeated again.

"So .. Elphie.. Elphaba is the Wicked Witch of the West from Oz.. but she's not really wicked, just misunderstood. The flying Monkeys were created because she was tricked but they are loyal to her for rescuing them from service to the Wizard who IS evil and took over the world and knocked the current ruler out of reign and then fooled all Oz into thinking he was great and wonderful. He then blamed Elphaba when she tried to let people know he was evil and she wound up looking like the bad one and he let it happen rather than come out and admit it was all his fault."

Chistery nodded, "Finally." Luke wasn't sure if the monkey had really said it but he rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"Forgive me.. I'm not exactly up to snuff on my Ozian political events." He muttered, rubbing his temples.

Chistery grinned at him. "Luke sarcastic. Like Elphie."

"When I'm tired." He admitted, a wan grin filled his face. "But wait.. there's one more thing you haven't explained. The shoes.. forget about that? I'll kill you and your little dog too?"

Chistery sighed. "Shoes belonged to Nessarose. Elphie thought when her sister died shoes would be hers. Were father's gift to Nessarose to show she was his favorite. He hated Elphaba. Shoes made her jealous, were a sign of his love to his favorite daughter and a sign to Elphaba that she was not good enough. They used to say they were the beautifully tragic and tragically beautiful sisters." Chistery explained with a sigh. "Elphie just want shoes."

"Oh.." Luke said with a sigh, he supposed it made sense.. somewhat. "and .. and what about that .. Glinda the Good?"

"Miss Glinda... Glinda Upland of the Upper Uplands." Chistery said with a grin. "Glinda went to Shiz too.. with Miss Elphie. They were roommates. They were best friends."

"Oh.." Luke said, suddenly extremely shocked. He wasn't sure why it surprised him so very much that Glinda the Good and the Wicked Witch of the West had been best friends. He wasn't sure why he should be surprised after all he'd learned tonight.

Chistery let out a weary sigh. "Elphie and Chistery were together in her study at Kiamo Ko and suddenly there was a great noise, a great commotion, it sounded like a freight train was coming through the castle and then Elphie she holds Chistery close and doesn't let go and we hide in the corner. Then next thing I know we're on the ground and it is sunny out but all the buildings around us look strange and they're all torn up. Chistery tried to wake Elphie but he could not. Chistery leaves to try to find help and when he comes back Elphie gone. Chistery has taken all this time trying to find her." He said seriously. "This world is a dangerous place. Chistery thinks Elphie and Chistery need to return to Oz before something really bad happens. Elphie no longer cares for Chistery." He whispered, tipping his face down.

Luke swallowed with a sigh and was about to explain before he noticed that a single tear was shining on the monkey's furred cheek. "Listen.. Chistery.. it's not that she doesn't care..." He said with a sigh. How was he going to explain amnesia to a monkey.

"Luke does not need to explain." Chistery murmured and the monkey leaped from the sofa bed and dropped the Grimmerie from his arms into the floor and ran, opened the door, and ran out.

"Chistery! Chistery Wait!" Luke exclaimed rushing after him, but by the time he got to the door it was too late. All he could see was the black hall. Chistery was gone. Luke sighed and sagged back against the doorframe and put his hands over his eyes. What a mess... how had his date night turned into this disaster?

Chistery was running. All he knew was running and it was as if he was back in the jungle where he had been a baby with his mother and brothers and sisters before the Wizard had sent poachers into the jungle to kidnap as many baby monkeys as he could find. Running reminded Chistery of that. He was running so quickly that he didn't even notice that he was being followed. He didn't think about the fact that he was about to get into even bigger trouble. He didn't know that he should have stayed with Luke in the apartment until.. WHAM! A huge thing slammed down over his head and trapped him before he could go any further along the sidewalk. He flapped his blue wings crazily in attempt to get loose but only tangled the brass buttons of his jacket in the netting.

"I gotcha!" A voice exclaimed from above. Chistery slowly looked up from below and saw a man above him, leering at him. The man didn't look very good by any means. He had had acne at some point and popped the pimples by the look of it. He was an ugly shade of pale white with the deep pits in his face from the pimple scars and had a shag of hair on his face that was somewhere between stubble and a beard- about the way a guy looks when he hasn't shaved in three or four days. He had brooding eyes and a uni-brow with that cro-magnum protruding forehead and deep set black eyes. His breath stunk too. It smelled like he'd been eating onion and sour cream potato chips on his time off and he was wearing some brown uniform with what looked like coveralls. Chistery had no escape as the man picked up the net and dumped him unceremoniously into a big white bag and pulled the bag over his shoulder. "Dr. Payne and Dr. Henkle will want to see you now I've finally caught you." He said with a low smirk. Even his voice was a little scary.

Chistery let out a fearful squeak from inside the bag.

"Yes you'd better squeak you stupid little flying monkey. Damn you. It's because of you that they've had me doing the work of a downright servant following you around and trying to catch you every night for the last two months. Now they'll see you and they'll be happy and I'll get a reward. Maybe they'll let me join the operation now.." His voice had a soft caressing note when he spoke of the operation and it became quite clear to Chistery that whoever Dr. Payne and Henkle were.. they were bad news and that, he, Chistery, was in big trouble. "I'm a dog catcher not a monkey catcher." The man muttered as he dropped the bag containing Chistery none too gently in the back of his big white truck and went around to get in the cab.

Chistery had never heard of the word "dog catcher" before but it sounded ominous.

"Uh oh." Chistery whispered.

_For all the Chistery Lovers out there this chappie is dedicated to you! Hope you enjoyed reading it. I had a great time developing what I call "Chisteryspeak" I call it that because when I began planning we know that Chistery in the play does not speak until he gives Glinda the hat after Elphie's "Melting" and I figure that he would still be like slow and hesitant about it and so I wanted to create a speech for him that was more childlike so really I based it somewhat off of how my babysitting charges talk mixed with a little bit of House Elfian speech from the HP universe and had "Chisteryspeak" Now this story is going to begin earning it's "adventure" part of it's genre. Obviously as we're learning Henkle and Payne are out to make big trouble for Elphie and now they've got Chistery. Please let me know what you think! I'd like to give a shout out to __**Kitale, TillItryI'llNeverKnow, QuillandPen, BloodyMary2, Elphiethegood, and PuppypersonLOTR107 **__for your wonderful reviews thus far! They've helped me keep up my insane amount of updates!_


	9. Whatever the Lady Doth Request

Elphaba slowly struggled to get her eyes open and look around. For a moment the room blurred about her and she reached up one hand and began to rub her eyes vigorously. They were crusted with sleep and dried tears from the night before and she immediately rubbed around them with her fingers several times to get rid of the yucky stuff that had formed around the edges of her eyes while she slept. She slowly sat up feeling the blankets pull and go with her as she sat up and looked around. She realized that she wasn't in the sofa bed and looked around, trying to figure out where she was. Oh.. wait.. Luke's bedroom. She sighed and rubbed her eyes again. It appeared he'd never come to get her out of his bed the night before and she'd fallen asleep there even though she didn't remember doing so. She crawled out of the bed slowly and winced as her toes touched the cold floor. Just like him to not bother her once she was asleep. She sighed and walked across the bedroom and pushed open the door and peeked out.

To her surprise, the clock read 8:30 a.m. (earlier than she'd ever stumbled out of bed in her nearly two months in this world). She smiled, somewhat glad to see that Luke was there. The living room bore no trace of the disaster it had been the previous night. It was apparent he'd cleaned things up. She had a few seconds to watch him from the doorway before he noted her presence. He was sitting at the island in the kitchen on one of the high chairs. He had one foot up on the rung of the chair under him and the other stretched out the way he normally sat and was leaning one elbow on the island and rested his chin in that hand. His other hand was being used to turn the pages of the Topeka Times Newspaper and spoon copious amounts of cereal into his mouth. Frosted Flakes, she noted with her observant eye the blue box with the tiger on it. Those were his favorite but she'd never seen him eat them- granted she never got up at breakfast time either. That was probably at least half the reason. She smiled. He looked like he hadn't been awake very long either. Perhaps they'd both gone to bed late the previous night. She noticed that the covers on the sofa bed were turned back in a different manner than she left them and realized he'd slept in her bed and she'd slept in his. It caused her stomach to do a funny, inexplicable, flip flop.

Luke turned a page in the paper and she focused her eyes back on him with a soft smile. His blonde curls were disheveled and she thought pretty soon he'd be going for a hair cut as it was getting a bit longer than he normally wore it, hanging about his collar slightly. He was more tan than usual- perhaps spending the whole evening in the brilliant Indian Summer sun the night before had done it. The end of September had rarely been so lovely in Kansas and the weather and amount of sunshine they'd been having the past week certainly showed it. And then she noticed something else - he wasn't wearing a shirt.. just his blue jeans and she sank slowly against the edge of the doorway, resting the side of her face against the cool wood. Her heart pounded a crazy pattern against her chest as if it was going to beat its way right outside of her ribs. She felt hold and cold all over and strangely dizzy. What was wrong with her? She shook her head slightly and tried to stop her eyes from traversing the planes of his chest, but didn't quite manage. His neck led down into shoulders, smooth and strong. Right now they sloped forward as he leaned against the top of the island. Inviting shadows lurked along his collarbone area- not in quite the same way as a woman- but still.. a strong chest with only a very light dusting of blonde hairs that you could barely see. He had strong muscles in his chest- not overdone the way you might see on those exercise commercials- simply muscled beneath the skin from hard work and healthy lifestyle.

Suddenly he looked up and their eyes met. Elphaba's face went even more brilliant green in a deep blush and she felt as if her skin was on fire- this time from sheer embarrassment at being caught staring at him. "Er." She muttered, feeling awkward and stupid all of a sudden.

"It's okay." He said, offering her a grin as he laid down the newspaper. "Come have some breakfast?" He suggested, offering her a gentle smile that put her embarrassment at ease straight away.

"Um... well.. okay."

He grinned, "How about I make you some pancakes?" He suggested, getting up from the table.

"Oh... n... no you don't .. have to do that." She protested, walking over to the other side of the island and taking a seat.

"I want to." He said, "Just stay put." He motioned to where she was sitting across from him.

"Well... well alright.. if you insist then." She said, reaching over for the newspaper and flicking back to the front page to skim the headlines as she'd begun doing. It was, perhaps, her way of admitting that she was going to assimilate into this world for the time she was in it. She skimmed the front pages while she watched him move to the stove which was on his side of the island, leaving him to cook and his back turned to her as he bustled around finding a yellow box in the pantry and getting into the fridge and locating two eggs and a cup of milk. "I cheat when I make my pancakes." He said, holding up the box. She could see it said Bisquick on the front. "This is the flour and all that that goes into them already mixed and I think they taste even better than making them straight from scratch and heck of a lot easier to make that way." He explained as he carefully measure out two cups of the Bisquick while he waited for the skillet to heat up to 300 degrees. Elphaba watched with interest. She wasn't sure she'd ever had pancakes- whatever they were.

He grinned at her as he turned on the water at the tap and flicked a drop of water on the skillet; it sizzled madly. "That's how you know when it's ready." He said with a grin. He got a large clear bowl and cracked both eggs in and whipped them up. He poured in the milk and began measuring out two cups of the white stuff from the Bisquick box. He poured the two cups into the glass dish and stirred vigorously until the pancake batter was smooth, creamy colored and a little less thick than pudding. He showed it to her and she glanced at it.

"It doesn't look ... appetizing." She admitted. "Are you sure it's good?"

"Silly Elphie." He murmured. "Of course it is. It just has to be cooked is all. It's no good raw." He grinned and took a tablespoon from the silverware drawer and dipped it into the batter twice and poured it onto the skillet. It spit and sizzled when the batter came in contact with the hot surface. He repeated this three times over making tiny little pancakes just big enough for about two bites- silver dollar pancakes "Some people make them great big but I prefer a lot of little ones- my Grandma used to make them for me like this- called the silver dollar pancakes." He explained as he flipped the first batch over right in midair causing her to gasp in surprise and smirk. She applauded him in a slightly sarcastic manner.

"See, you're not the only one that can do magic tricks. Bet you I can flip this one all the way to the ceiling." He said, looking at one of the bigger silver dollars and sliding his spatula under it with all the confidence of an expert. He flipped and the pancake landed on the ceiling, sticky side up, with a soft _Splat! _Elphaba very slowly let her eyes trail upwards to see the pancake stuck to the ceiling like glue and tried very hard to conceal laughter. Her lip twitched.

"All the way to the ceiling all right." She muttered.

"Yes... well.. I didn't say I wasn't trying to do that." He retorted, though he was grinning good naturedly.

"Right. I'm sure you were. The look on your face just then, however, says otherwise."

"Whoops." He muttered, blushing and turning back to his skillet and beginning to work methodically- this time flipping them a bit more under control to avoid sending anymore onto the ceiling.

Elphaba watched him work without a word becoming mesmerized by his actions. She also noted- much to her own embarrassment- that jeans did have one nice side effect - with no shirt on they were pulled nice and tight in the back giving her an unhindered view of his rear end through them. He had a nice behind, she thought, before blushing and looking away. What had gotten into her?!

She shook her head and looked back up at him, deciding to try to distract herself. He was almost through the batter now and a huge pile of golden, flat, little cakes were building on a plate by the skillet. He spooned in the last of the batter slowly. "Come look." He suggested to her, nodding. She climbed off the chair and walked across the kitchen to his side, pressing gently against him to look over his shoulder to see what he wanted her to see. At first, she didn't catch the significance except that it was the beginnings of a pancake cooking. Then, she realized that the last pancake was shaped perfectly like a heart. She looked up at him, suddenly unable to breathe and his eyes were fiery with an emotion she couldn't quite place. She leaned against him to see better, but couldn't tear her eyes from his as he slowly turned around, just looking into her beautiful, dark eyes. He flipped the heart pancake over onto a plate and quickly dropped the spatula and towel into the sink before he turned to face her, stepping two steps backward. His eyes locked into hers and he slowly reached down and rested his hands on her shoulders and then slowly dropped them lower around her waist. He leaned in slowly and she felt herself rising to her tip toes to meet his kiss. They stared into each other's eyes for a moment as she wrapped her arms around his neck and shoulders. His eyes closed and a moment later so did hers. Then, she felt the softness of his lips on hers. He was tentative.. he didn't want this if she didn't and it was what gave her the courage to slowly press her lips back onto his and return the kiss. Luke let out a soft sound of appreciation at the feel of her soft lips in return and tightened his hold around her waist. He broke the soft kiss for a moment and stared into her eyes and she didn't pull away.

Slowly he reached his fingers up to trace her cheek and then tipped his forehead forward to meet hers. She was shivering slightly, but he knew it had nothing to do with cold. Her hold was still tight around his shoulders and so he leaned down for her lips again and this time he kissed her a bit harder, less like a first kiss. He tried to put every ounce of feeling he had for her into this kiss and he was shocked to feel her respond instantly to it, her own passion seeming to be just as high as his own. He didn't want it to end and he held her tighter, lifting her into his arms. Instinctively she linked her knee around his hip to keep from falling. His one hand rested at her lower back and the other reached up along her neck into her hair, slipping back and forth along the edge of her scalp. His heart thudded crazily as a soft sound escaped from her. Something like a soft whimper and when he tried to pull away and end the kiss decently, her fingers tightened around his shoulders to keep him from pulling back.

It was on her terms when the kiss ended and they stood in the center of the kitchen staring into each other's eyes in disbelief. Her lips were swollen with the kiss, her eyes shining in surprise... and he thought she'd never looked more beautiful than in stupid rent pajamas with her messed up hair and beautiful eyes. "I... think you can.. put me down now." She whispered.

He chuckled, "Right.. " He whispered, letting her down carefully on her feet. However, it took her only a couple of seconds to realize.. her legs wouldn't support her. She was shaking too much. He simply grinned and caught her about the waist to keep her from falling.

"Maybe not?" He suggested with a chuckle. She offered a small smile up at him as well.

"Would you think I was..." She paused.

"What?" He asked softly, slowly lifting her back into his arms again, loving the feel of having her so close to him. She didn't protest.

"Well... if I ... wanted.. you to.. do that again?" She whispered, her eyes wide, innocent almost.

"Oh.." He murmured with a grin. "Whatever the lady doth request." He whispered, pushing her hair back from her face as he leaned in close to her and she felt his sweet breath on her lips for a moment before she leaned forward and closed the little distance between them, feeling him respond instantly and she let her eyes fall closed in complete blissfulness. Her heart was hammering crazily in her chest and she felt hot and wonderful and ... and.. strange... she didn't want it to end.. oh _Sweet Oz don't stop.. please please don't stop. _

He seemed to be reading her thoughts and complying as his lips pressed to hers again. They were both breathless and then she felt the tip of his tongue brush lightly against her lower lip. She felt unsure for only a moment before she remembered his arms tight, safely wrapped around her. She allowed him to part her lips a bit and the tip of her tongue met his for a single instant causing a violent spasm of feeling to run through him head to toe. He shuddered slightly for a second as he began to walk/shuffle, still holding her, across the room. Forget pancakes!

Slowly he laid her on the sofa bed and she looked up at him in surprise but without a hint of fear or sense of stopping him as he climbed onto it beside her, only allowing her to feel a tiny bit of his weight as he hovered over her. She grinned brilliantly down at her as they both struggled to catch their breaths, panting crazily. He traced his fingertip slowly over her lips, her cheek bones, her closed eyes. "Elphaba..." He whispered, his voice a strange low timbre she wasn't used to.

"Luke.." She whispered, surprised at the strange note in her voice. She reached her fingers up to trace his golden curls through her finger tips.

"Elphaba." He repeated a second time, softly into her ear, a new note in his voice now.. a soft needy note that hinted he wasn't sure if he could stop what he'd begun.. he nipped gently at the skin of her ear and moved his lip slowly up to meet hers again. Their mouths crashed into each other with the force of a tidal wave and she wrapped her arms around his neck.

It was at this exact moment there came a knock at the door. At first neither of them paid attention, but the rap came again.. sharper this time. Luke regretfully pulled back from the kiss and both leaned forward again as if to resume it but the knock came again and he closed his eyes. "Damn it." He swore, low in his throat as he pulled back slightly from her, looking over his shoulder at the door.

"Luke you in there?" Wynn asked. "I need to speak with you about something important. I know it's early but.."

"No shit, Sherlock." Luke whispered, burying his face into Elphaba's soft pajama shirt right at her shoulder and she raised an eyebrow, not understanding the famous saying. "It means.. obviously." He whispered back to her. "The man has no sense of good timing." He muttered, crawling regretfully off of the couch. He cast her a longing look but she sat up as well, her embarrassment and inhibition returning full force as Luke regretfully went for the door making faces the entire way.

_LOL and now you finally got a little fluff. That kiss is totally what I've been waiting for 25k to write LOL. I figured you deserved something sweet after the last dramatic chappie. So yeah, I know it's a bit short. I'll try to have the next one up tonight after school. Let me know whatcha think. _


	10. The Aftermath

Elphaba, who was more aware of the fact she looked just exactly like what she'd been doing - i.e. messy hair, swollen lips, blushing face- decided to make herself scarce. She also was not anxious for Dr. Wynn to have a look at her in a pair of pajamas that said "Moo With Me!" On the front. Luke was one thing, but she didn't know Wynn nearly as well and though she felt confident he probably wouldn't laugh about her choice of apparel she got up and disappeared into the bedroom and, from there, the bathroom where she was intent on starting her usual morning routine for getting ready. She pulled her long hair back out of the way and cleaned herself head to toe with warmed oil from a dish that was left sitting on a candle warmer on the sink over night. When she felt refreshed she would comb out her hair to get rid of the tangles and then brush it a hundred strokes to make it look softer. Some mornings she left her hair down- though not usually- she knew he liked her hair even though he didn't mention it. He was always looking for an excuse to get near enough to her and lately she was beginning not to mind.

She entered the bathroom and staggered to the sink and pressed her hands against the cool marble top and closed her eyes, swallowing several times. There was a strange rush of feelings inside of her. She felt hot all over, but not in a bad way. Slowly she sunk to the floor and lifted her hands to her face, tipping her head back against the wall and closing her eyes. She allowed her imagination to run wild for a few moments. She allowed it to picture what might have happened if Dr. Wynn hadn't picked such a blasted awful time to come to the door. She wondered if they would have made love. She would be a fool not to consider the possibility... it had been heading in that direction hadn't it? Then again, she'd probably never know. Unless, when Wynn was gone... Her face flared with heat at the thought. This was ridiculous, perhaps he didn't even want to- though his actions told her otherwise.

Suddenly, the sound of soft, serious voices from the other room caught her attention. She noted the timbre of the voices. They didn't sound like a mentor and a student or two colleagues catching up on work. They sounded more solemn than that and she got up from the floor and walked across the room to slowly press her ear against the wall making it possible for her to listen in undetected. The wall felt cool against her hot face and she strained to hear more of the conversation going on in the next room. It sounded soft and warped- the way it sounds when you're listening to a long distance call over the telephone.

Luke had gone to the door and opened it. It wasn't until he saw the telltale expression on Wynn's face that he thought to check his appearance. Wynn gave him a look. "Ahem.. I can ... see I'm interrupting so .. I'll try to make this quick." He said, his voice was more grave than usual and Luke noted that his face looked pained and he moved into the room and shut the door behind Wynn running a quick hand up to his hair and trying to brush it down as much as possible to avoid it looking any sillier than it already did. He grabbed a random t-shirt off the back of a chair and forced it over his head. Wynn had the good grace not to laugh when the first attempt yielded him almost putting his head through the arm of the shirt in his nervousness before he got it right. "I.. don't see Elphaba." He said, the note in his voice hinted that he was digging for a little more information but that he wasn't going to outright ask. "Did she ... enjoy the party last night?"

Party last night? It seemed otherworldly to Luke. It felt like the night they'd gone to the barbeque and watched ET had been weeks ago instead of just the night before. So much had happened in the interim. "Yes, I think she did." Luke said. "She's um- cleaning up I think. She was still in her pajamas a minute ago." He said, almost as if trying to make it clear that Wynn hadn't caught them doing anything worse than kissing. It wasn't that he was ashamed of it, but more that he was mortified at being caught. At times Wynn was a friend and at times he was more like a father figure. It was the latter at the moment.

"Luke..." Wynn said with a sigh, taking a seat at the island. "Do you love her?"

Luke sighed and went to the kitchen stove and took the heated water off the back of it and unsteadily poured two cups of coffee, handing one of them to Wynn before he sat down across from the other doctor and tipped his own cup up to have a drink, scalding his tongue in the process. He set the cup down deliberately. "Why do you ask?" he inquired.

"No reason, really, I just.. was curious."

"Well, in that case." Luke sighed, "Yes, I think I do." He lifted one hand up and rubbed it against his temples as someone might do when they have a colossal headache coming on. Luke wished they could change the topic of conversation. Thinking about Elphaba wasn't helping the fact that he was highly aroused from the kissing on the sofa and thinking about Wynn in a bikini was not a very good idea at the moment given that the man was sitting two feet away from him - thankfully with a table in between the two of them!

"Good." Wynn said, simply.

"Doc.. you know me better than that. I'd never." He sighed. "Well I'm pretty sure that you know we were..."

"Kissing, yes." Wynn smirked. "Between all the medical texts and that goofy grin plastered all over your face."

Luke blushed cherry red and looked away. "I'd never lead her on if I didn't... feel something I mean." He tacked on for better understanding. He wrapped his hands around the coffee cup and stared off into the distance, face thoughtful. "Don't you understand why I told you I didn't want her case?" He asked, his voice pained. "I was so afraid of what I felt for her- even back then- I thought that if I didn't take her case I could run from what I felt. I thought that if you handled it then I could pretend that I ... well obviously the way I feel about her now and the way I felt about her then were very different, but.. I've had crushes before, Doc. I know what those are like. I've just.. never been in love before this." He said with a small sigh.

Wynn groaned softly. "I should have listened to you, Luke." He said. "This is all my fault. You said you had a good reason for not wanting the case. I should have believed you did straight up. Or at the very least I should've pushed further to find out why you were refusing it. My star doctor student, always there on time, always caring, working your tush off every day. I should've known that you wouldn't just turn down a case simply because she made an idiot out of you. I wasn't thinking and now.."

"Now what?" Luke asked.

"Now I've messed everything up." Wynn admitted, rubbing his own temples.

"What do you mean? Messed everything up?" Luke inquired. "Elphaba and I are alright. You just saw us at the Barbeque last night."

"I know and she's never looked better. She was positively glowing last night. I've never been more confident in my relationship with her than I am now." He said softly. "And she's improving rapidly. She's getting stronger every day, her.. her independence and her fire are coming back. She's getting her sarcastic edge back..." He trailed off, noting the look on Wynn's face. He looked even more pained, if that was possible.

"Luke.. Do you remember the day that you were sitting by Elphaba's bed and she was sleeping? It wasn't long after she woke up.. you were taking notes."

"Of course I remember." He said, easily. "Because that was the first day that I started trying to convince myself I had to give up her case because I thought I might feel something... other.. than you know.. patient doctor relationship. I'd rather give up her case than give her up entirely." He said.

"Well, this is." he sighed, "Hard. I don't know how to say this."

"Just.. whatever it is.. say it." Luke said with a sigh, beginning to get a feeling down in his gut that this was going to be bad. I don't know if you've ever received some really bad news or a hard let down, but often times right before the person delivers the news you get a little sick feeling down in your stomach that something really bad is going to happen. It was the same kind of feeling that Luke had right now.

"Dr. Dumas saw you. Dr. Dumas knows that she's been staying with you since her release from the hospital because Payne told him. I don't even know how Payne knew."

"Dr. Dumas the dumb ass?" Luke asked, trying to weakly crack the joke that they had for him. Dr. Dumas was another brain surgeon on floor four of Topeka Memorial and he was a real jerk. He had absolutely no sense of humor and zero people skills whatsoever. He had no problem going into a patient room and laying it on them thirty minutes after they'd woken up from surgery that they had epilepsy or that all the brain tumor they'd operated to removed hadn't come out and they had about three weeks to live. Dr. Dumas didn't care about his co-workers or, seemingly, his patients. He was almost always a jerk to his fellowship student, Mark. Luke had many moments where he felt grateful he'd not been assigned as Dumas' fellowship student and that he'd gotten Wynn. Dr Dumas went out of his way to make the nurses and other doctors' lives a living nightmare and he'd hated Luke since the day Luke walked into the building simply because Luke actually tried to care for his patients properly. Wynn could see it more plainly than Luke- the fact that Dr. Dumas was so jealous of his new student that he couldn't see straight. Of course, he wasn't about to tell Luke this, nor was he about to tell him that the other doctor would do anything to see Luke gone. He would simply keep the two of them apart. Now, it seemed, he was going to pay for this grievous mistake.

"The one and only." Wynn agreed. "He went to the board, which I didn't know about. And.. he turned you in for indecent relationship with a patient on the grounds that he saw you alone with her multiple times and now she's living with you."

"What?!" Luke spluttered, his face red again- this time with anger. "That's bull crap doc! You know I didn't!"

"I know.. I know." Wynn said, holding up a hand lightly. "The board convened this morning and I myself gave testimony that nothing happened between you know in that manner until Elphaba had already been discharged as a patient." He said with a sigh, "But the board doesn't care. Dumas has them in his back pocket."

"So.. what are you saying then?" Luke asked, though he felt sure he knew what the older man was saying.

"They've decided it would be.. best for all if you were removed from the fellowship program." Wynn said softly.

Luke hung his head lifting his hands over his face. He didn't want Wynn to see him cry but he couldn't stop the burning tears that were coming up from the well deep inside of him. "W...what?" He questioned, though he'd heard perfectly well what Wynn had been saying.

"I'm really sorry, Luke." Wynn said, getting up off his hair and walking across to where Luke was sitting. Wynn hugged him and Luke hugged back hard, his tears choking him. "This is all my fault."

"What do you mean it's your fault?" Luke asked thickly. "It was Dumb ass who went to the board- you tried to stop him."

Wynn sighed, "I knew that he didn't like you from the moment you started the fellowship program two years ago. I knew he wanted to get rid of you but I don't like to speak ill of my co-workers- even if they are dumb asses- and I didn't want to tell you about it so I just didn't mention it. If you'd known, if you'd been on your guard about him- perhaps this wouldn't've happened."

Luke shook his head miserably. "If that's true, and I believe it is given how the man has always treated me, then it would've happened sooner or later no matter what you did or didn't do." Luke said with a sigh.

"I still feel responsible." Wynn murmured. "I mean you're.. you're still a doctor with just.. just one year left to complete in your fellowship program. It just... won't be at Topeka Memorial. I know it's a long way away but.. I know a guy- he was in my medical school class. He's working at a big hospital in New York City and I could make a couple of calls. I know he has an open space in his fellowship program and your records and grades are top of your class I'm sure you could get in there. It's only one more year to complete and then you'll be fully qualified. You could even come back here and work if you wanted."

Luke considered this for a moment and nodded, "I'm not going to let stupid Dumb Ass do me in. I've wanted this ever since I was in junior high." He muttered. "Go ahead and make the calls. I appreciate it." He said with a nod.

Elphaba felt as if she'd been kicked in the stomach as she slumped against the wall of the bathroom. This was her fault! Luke was out of his fellowship program and it was all because of her. She leaned her face against the wall of the bathroom feeling tears burning her skin as they worked their way down her face. How could she have let something like this happen?! She should have been more careful even while she was in the hospital, about protecting him. She should have... well there were a thousand should haves for her and she'd not done any of them. Damn it.. why did she always hurt the people she loved? Why?! She felt somewhere within her that this had happened before and she struggled to hold onto the hint of the memory. She struggled with it for a second.. a cornfield.. soldiers.. screaming.. nothing. She shivered at the partial flashback and wished it would return. As terrifying as it had been- her first real flashback- she wanted to know more. Luke had told her that these flashbacks would come- even if it took a long while. She would eventually begin to have them and if she listened to them they could tell her about her past. She felt sick.

Back in the main room, Luke's removal from the program wasn't all the news Wynn had for him. "That's not all of it either. A strange coincidence of events has been going on.. Dr. Payne stopped coming to work." Wynn said with a sigh. "I thought it was because I turned _him _into his own board after you told me what he did to Elphaba but I don't think that's it. A guy turned up in the ER this morning. He had a really nasty bite on his hand and he was pretty delirious. Raving lunatic about a monkey with wings gave it to him and that Dr. Payne was trying to kidnap the monkey."

Luke had to work hard to control a gasp of surprise and to keep his face neutral. "That monkey was here last night." Luke whispered.

"Whhhatt?" Wynn asked. "Are you.. you're bluffing me right?"

"No I'm not." Luke said, "He was here. The monkey's name is Chistery. He ransacked the bloody apartment and was standing in the living room at midnight when Elphaba and I got home." He muttered.

"How do you know his name's Chistery?"

"He talks." Luke replied simply.

"I should be laughing." Wynn muttered. "Is this some kind of a ridiculous joke?"

"No it's not a joke. You thought a woman with green skin was a joke too- until you saw one. I'm telling you the winged monkey exists and I know it because I saw him, here, last night and he knows about Elphaba's past." Luke replied.

"Really?" Wynn asked, surprised.

"Yes. The monkey was with her in the tornado that brought her here. He's a pet of hers I think. He knows her entire history and he told me bits of it. But he was very upset because she sort've brushed him off. She doesn't remember him. Not even seeing him helped. As soon as he'd finished the story he ran out of the room. I tried following him but.. I couldn't catch him."

"Someone else did." Wynn said with a sigh. "I asked the man, jokingly, what happened to the monkey and he told me that he gave it to Payne and that Payne was taking it to Dr. Henkle- whoever the hell that is- and Henkle was going to run tests on it to see why it had blue wings. I asked him who Henkle worked for and he said The Department of Homeland Security. I thought he was joking and making him talk kept him still so that I could stitch up his bite." Wynn said with a groan, "I never thought about the fact that he might be telling me something real."

Luke sighed and brought his hands up to his face. "You're telling me that this monkey is... Monkey-napped!? By someone who works for the freaking department of homeland security?!"

"It.. looks that way..."

"This is like bloody ET the movie happening all over again in real life. Next they'll be coming after Elphaba wanting to study her!"

"I know that now." Wynn whispered with a sigh. "So what do we do?"

Luke shook his head. "I don't know, but I love her and I'm not going to let anything bad happen to her."

Wynn nodded, "I'll find out whatever else I can from that man and come back later. He's still in the hospital because we've been watching the hand for infection."

"Thanks." Luke said.

Wynn sighed. "One good thing came out of all this."

"What?" Luke asked.

"Well.. Um.. don't mention this to anyone else but.. when I found out what Dumas did.. I sort've.. knocked him out cold in the locker room."

Luke had to stifle a loud laugh with his hand. "Good for you, Doc. I knew you could do it."

"He deserved it. I've been wanting to do that since the day I met that cockroach." He muttered. "I just never had an excuse to for the last fifteen years. Until now. But listen.. they know where you are now. You should take Elphaba and get out of here if you want to keep her safe. I'm going to find out whatever information I can. You should leave as soon as I've come back. Find her original clothes- whatever she came here in and leave."

"What clothes? She came in a witch's costume." Luke muttered with a low chuckle.

Wynn rolled his eyes, "You know what I mean..."

Elphaba didn't think she'd ever felt more awful or sick in all of her life. Chistery had run off because she'd refused to speak to him. Chistery had been her.. pet? Had they been close? Had she turned away the only friend who knew her past? It was her fault that he was taken now! He was the only chance she might ever have to find out where she'd come from and why and how to get back. He knew about her life. He needed to be able to tell her and she needed to hear it. She needed to know what he knew about her life. Now she was never going to know because she'd let him go away. She'd refused to speak with him Oz only knew why. The man who'd taken him was working in league with Dr. Payne and Dr. Henkle- whoever Dr. Henkle was. They were working in turn for what sounded like the United Stated government. She'd learned a lot in her time with Luke- enough to know that this was serious. If the Government got involved... What if they tried to take her and run tests on her like they tried to do to ET in the movie from the night before..

_"Sweet Oz! I've got to get out of here before I cause anymore trouble for Luke. It's already my fault he's out of his job. And now I've hurt Chistery too. I have to get out of here. I have to get Chistery back and find out how to get home- wherever home is- before anything else disastrous happens to us or to Luke." _

She moved faster than she knew was possible as she searched through her clothes- they'd all been washed by the apartment laundry service- and found the dress she'd come in. Her 'witch's costume' and she began dressing as fast as she could. She brushed her hair and pulled it into a bun as she used to do, found her shoes and slipped into them, using the tiny hook to button them as she'd always done. She stuffed all of her books back into the book bag. What about the Grimmerie? It was still laying in the living room floor. No matter, she didn't have time to wait to retrieve it. She needed to get out of this place before something awful happened to Luke because of her. He could keep the Grimmerie. It only caused trouble anyway.

She looked around, wondering if she should leave a note and finally decided she would. She looked around but saw no paper, only a random pen laying on the bedside table. She grabbed the pen and her eyes scanned the room as she looked for a book. She grabbed the first thing that she saw. Luke had extensive book shelves in his bedroom with hundreds maybe even a thousand books on them. He had all of his books from the time of his early childhood on. The one that she grabbed looked very old so it wouldn't matter if she wrote in it. It had a gaily colored front cover that looked as if it had been a childhood book and that made her feel better. She wouldn't want to write in one of his good books.

She grabbed the pen and flipped to the title page and began to write in such a rush that her writing was cramped and only with very careful studying could it be read.

_Luke, _

_It's not safe for me to stay here anymore. I've caused too much trouble for you already and it's my fault that everything that happened, happened. I can't bear the thought of you giving up all your dreams on my account. Go back to the board and tell them I'm gone. It'll be better for you. I'm not worth giving up your entire life for. That's silly. I think I love you and sometimes when you love someone enough, you have to let them go. I can't stay here. This is not my world and I don't belong in it. I can't cause you more danger than I already have. I'm going to find Chistery, the monkey and then I'm going home- wherever home is. Please don't try to follow me, I don't think you'll be able to. I don't -want- you to follow me. Stay here. Don't be an idiot. - I think I love you, Elphaba_

What she didn't notice as she threw the book hastily on the middle of his bed and disappeared out the window with her bag over her shoulder, was that the book had fallen open to the page on which the note was written. Behind the note was a sketch of a woman dressed in the classic witch costume. It was all in black and white except for her face which was a lurid green color. She was stooped and beside her stood a small monkey with wings, for the book was The Wizard of Oz and beneath the picture the caption read, "The Wicked Witch of the West and one of her Flying Monkeys."

_Aii I hope you liked this chappie. It was a very difficult one for me to write! Um.. let's see I hope you liked the Idina reference- this one's harder to spot. Luke's remark about the witch's costume bit was actually made by Idina's husband at one point when she got taken to the ER after falling through a trap door on the set of Wicked and sustaining an injury. Thought it was rather ironic. You can find the video of her talking about that at Youtube by searching Idina Menzel Wicked Injury if you want to see it. I recommend you do because it's hilariously funny. Um.. anyone else think the ET reference was really funny that it happened to be that movie she saw.. Yeah anyway. I know this chapter was sad. It gets better after this. Promise! _


	11. Up A Tree

_WHO! WHO!_

_Snap!_

_Crunch!_

_Rrrrriiibbit!_

_WHO WHO WHO!_

_Grrrrrrrrr_

The statue suddenly moved, her head snapping up at the strange, new sound. It had been the first movement she had made in several hours and had you been watching her you truly might have thought that she was the statue. Aside from the slight moving of her shoulders with her breathing every few seconds, she made not a movement. She was more still than life, more still than almost seemed humanly possible. Could a living person truly sit as still as this one had been for the past couple of hours? She shivered slightly as the draft of cold air worked its way up into her somewhat ripped clothing like cruel fingers reaching into warm covers on a cold winter's morning. It did not help that the figure was drenched to the skin. The cold air did nothing to dry the clothes that she still wore despite that the occurrence which had made them wet, the figure falling into a nearby river, had happened two hours previous. She was still as wet as when it had first happened. It appeared that the Indian Summer was over now that September was drawing to a close and the night was chilly- perhaps 50 degrees.

Now, her head raised and her black hair fell slowly around her shoulders with the movement she made. Her hair was falling in wisps around her face because it was beginning to dry a little bit simply from her body heat- which wasn't much given that she was wearing soaking wet clothes. She lifted her hands to her mouth and slowly blew into them to attempt to warm them. Even her joints felt stiff in the cold and she could see her breath come out of her fingers in whisps of smoke-like condensation.

_WHO WHO WHO!_

_Grrrrrr _

She shivered- this time not from cold, and looked around her. "Who's there?" she whispered. She shivered again. Her deep eyes- a brown so dark they looked almost like black- roved the tree tops above her to see if she could deduce what was making that sound. That sound that sounded like someone literally saying "WHO?!" She bit her lower lip hard- so hard it bled. She brushed the blood away without care and shivered again still looking around her. She wondered if this was the way it felt to lose one's mind. She sighed and managed to stand, walking vigorously and pumping her arms and legs to try to get the circulation back into them, shaking to try to dry more of the water from her clothes. She glared when she pulled her peaked black hat off and found a lily pad in her hair. Her face might have caused giggles when she realized it, and pulled the plant off and threw it away from her as hard as she could. Her face was annoyed enough to keep anyone who would have laughed from doing so. She looked around her with a suspicious glance and shivered. She didn't want to admit that she was scared, but who wouldn't be in the middle of the night, completely lost, with no clue of her surroundings. She winced and wrapped her arms around her small upper body and snuggled into her one blanket and looked around herself casting worried glimpses into the strange shadows that the trees cast on the ground. She looked around her becoming more and more scared as she looked around trying to find what was making the odd noises when she suddenly caught sight of a rather large, hulking shadow moving cautiously around the trees.

Slowly Elphaba raised to her feet and looked around herself for something that she could use as a weapon should the large thing turn out to be a foe. Elphaba cast her eyes about and saw the old lantern she'd looted from a barn somewhere several hours back before it darkened. She held the little lantern up next to her and was careful to keep it shuttered lest the light of the oil within alert the potential foe to her whereabouts. She cast her eyes warily about the small camp ground as she heard the strange intruder begin to crash towards her through the underbrush. Elphaba, brandishing the lantern as a weapon, stepped forward towards the figure at the same time it reached for her. Her heart was racing crazily fast inside of her and she slammed the lantern forward making sure it made contact with the strange shape that let out a howl similar to the sound she imagined a banshee made and pulled her to the ground, rolling her over. For a second the thing had her pinned beneath it and she was pummeling it with her fists into its chest and it was holding her as tight as an iron vise around the waist. She struggled and it struggled in return and half the time she felt as if she was being crushed. They struggled crazily together in a frenzy until the lantern rolled away and she clawed the lumpy blanket away from his face. It looked familiar.. pale, blonde haired.. "LUKE?!" she howled in shock.

"Elphaba?!"

It appeared he was every bit in shock as she was as he rolled away and sat up. "Are you alright?" he asked, his voice hinted in the grey tones of worry that he'd hurt her.

"Yes.. fine.. you?"

"Good.. except I think I'm going to have a massive headache in the morning. What WAS that?"

"A... lantern.." She muttered, giving him a sheepish look. "And old coal oil lantern."

"Felt it." He muttered, bringing his fingers gingerly up to his head. "I keep getting hurt around you.. first the bowling ball and now this." He muttered.

"Occupational hazard." Elphaba muttered, but she turned her eyes away from him. "I thought I told you." She whispered under her breath. "Not to follow me. Not to come looking for me."

"Yes well it's fortunate for you that I don't listen very well." he muttered. "Oh Elphaba.. you're soaking wet." He muttered with a sigh, moving closer to her and taking off his big overcoat and sliding it around her shoulders. "The water's not good for you." he said, worry sketching his voice.

"I'm fine." She responded promptly. Luke couldn't put his finger on it, but her voice had a strange, caustic sort've note and she was stepping away from him.

"Elphaba?..." He asked the name a question as he made to follow her but she only left him faster.

"I told you not to follow me!" She exclaimed, turning on him. For the first time ever he saw a different Elphaba. This Elphaba was not his Elphaba. Her face, though still beautiful, reflected an inner turmoil and chaos that he simply could not understand. Why did she suddenly act like she wanted nothing to do with him? Had he gone too fast? Had he hurt her in some way? Perhaps kissing on his couch had been a poor idea after all. Perhaps he should have...

"You did." He whispered.

"I'm not /good/ for you Luke." she whispered, her voice putting all its point and focuse on the word good. "I made you lose your fellowship." She whispered, wrapping her arms around herself and stalking back and forth in the little camp area she'd made for herself. Two weeks worth of running had taught her to be subservient on her own two feet.

Luke took in a breath. "That's why you left isn't it? You're blaming yourself for this."

"Well it's my fault isn't it?" She demanded her voice harsh. "I heard Wynn. Try to explain it in a way that doesn't incriminate me."

Luke sighed. "Elphaba. It's not someone's 'fault' it just .. happened is all. I don't care about that I can get a fellowship anywhere else in the country for the last year. I've got good grades and a few good people to put in a word for me. All I cared about these last two weeks is finding you and making sure you were okay! You scared me to death! I was beginning to think I was never going to find you! Do you know you got all the way to Wyoming?!"

"And to what ends, Luke?!" She demanded, finally meeting his eyes with her dark ones. They were glowing with an anxious light.

"I don't know.." he whispered. "All I know is that my life didn't have any purpose or meaning. I thought it did, I mean, but before you came along and fell right into my world there was no point to living to continuing. You've given me a reason I didn't even know I needed. It's like I was a puzzle that was missing one piece and you fit the missing place, Elphie." he stopped, checked himself, he was speaking too fast. "I'm sorry I just.. I need you. You're everything to me and I didn't even realize that until I found that stupid note."

"That you obviously didn't feel the need to listen to. I told you not to come after me."

"Yes well.. you can't always be right a hundred percent of the time can you?"

Elphaba sighed, "Touché." She muttered, looking up at him and shivering crazily.

"I couldn't not come after you. It was as if my body was simply acting outside of my will, Elphaba. It's like you're a magnet and I'm a little iron shaving. I can't stay away from you." he whispered, taking a single step towards her. "Please.. I won't get in the way or .. anything. I'll just go with you. Wherever you're going. You could at least say yes to a travel companion couldn't you?" He asked.

"And the board?"

"I already saw them. Before I left. Told them I wasn't going to attest their decision and quit the program."

"Luke!" She scolded, her eyes wide.

"You left school too! that monkey told me! You left because you felt like there was something you had to do. I feel like I have to do this. I don't care about the fellowship at Topeka Memorial. I love what I do but you mean more to me than that."

She sighed and shook her head, "But I'm bad for you."

"And maybe I'm bad for you!" He protested. "But I need you." He said.

She sighed. "I ... need you too." She murmured, finally admitting this.

"Then let me come." He whispered, stepping forward until he was close to her and looking down into her eyes. Slowly he reached down and let his fingers run across her cheek. "Please, Elphaba.. I just want to be with you.

"Against my better judgment." She whispered with a sigh. "I can't seem to say no to you." She whispered and felt him wrap his arms around her waist and she let her head sag onto his shoulder. She was so confused, a muddle of feelings and she didn't know what to think or feel or anything. All she could do was wrap her arms around him in return and give a gentle squeeze in return.

"Good." He whispered back. He leaned down and was about to press his forehead against hers, feeling suddenly happy and relieved. He lifted his head as he heard a strange sound.. a low growling from somewhere off in the distance. "Elphaba.. may I ask why you haven't stayed in a hotel?" He inquired of her, looking around, his face unreadable, but his arms wrapping around her more tightly.

"Too noticeable." She said pointedly. "It would make it too easy for someone to find me. And.." She sighed, "I didn't have any money. I wasn't about to take yours." She whispered.

Luke rolled his eyes, "I only wish you had." He traced his hand gently along her back and pressing her against him.

"Why's that?" She asked.

"Well.." He sighed. The noise came again and this time she noticed it too.

"What was that?" She asked softly.

"Well.. um.. Have I ever mentioned that there's a large national park in Wyoming?"

"No..."

"Well .. there is and um.. there's.. grizzly bears in this area."

"Oh." she muttered. "Oh!" She whispered.

"Yes Oh.. and I'm pretty sure of what that sound is.." He muttered, looking around and wrapping his arms around her. "Come on.. let's.. let's get in one of these trees." He suggested, taking her hand as they both hurried towards one of the strongest looking, tallest trees as they heard another menacing growl. Luke gave her a hand up and then went up after her. "Hurry." He murmured, looking over his shoulder as he began to smell something. Something that smelled suspiciously like wet fur. Something was growling and pacing below them as they scrambled as quickly as they could up into the tree faster and faster.

"Do they climb?" Elphaba murmured, trying to keep the fear from her voice.

"No.." He whispered. Luke gathered as many leaves as he could find and some moss and settled them into a large nook in the tree to make a place for them to be able to sit down about fifteen feet up in the tree. "We'll just have to wait here until it goes away." He said with a sigh. "There's nothing else we can do for now." He murmured. "Except wait."

"Well.." she said with a sigh. "I guess it's not so bad."

"Elphaba." He said with a soft smile, "There's no one else I'd rather be stranded up a tree with, hiding from a bear, than you." He murmured, reaching over and allowing his fingers to trace her cheek for just a moment and his touch was so soft that she couldn't help giving him one of her rare smiles, the dimples appearing for a brief second in her cheeks as she reached forward and slipped her fingers into his and gave them a gentle squeeze.

_Aggh I know it wasn't as long or as good as usual.. I've been sick for a couple days this week and had a lot of home work to boot. I'll try to update again by the weekend with a longer update. Hope you enjoyed this one.. LOL I love how much trouble she gets in when she's with Luke... The dimples thing's yet another Idina reference. If you ever get a glimpse of her grinning.. she has them :p Anyways hope you enjoyed and sorry for the delay. _


	12. Sneaky, Peeky Spying

Luke winced and slowly opened his eyes- they felt gritty with sleep the way one feels after a long night. He slowly reached his hand up and rubbed his fingers through his eyes in attempt to clear the sleep from them. It came in large clumps out of his eyelashes. He grimaced as he felt dried blood crack on his face as he shifted his features. No doubt it had come from the gash that had been caused in the top of his head compliments of Elphaba and her coal oil lantern. He felt absolutely awful. He could taste grit in his mouth and dust as well. He was so thirsty it was as if his mouth had manufactured a cotton plant inside the back of his throat and more than anything he wanted a long, cool drink of water. His limbs felt stiff as well and he found that it hurt rather a lot when he attempted to move them. He winced and tried to shift positions but found that a weight was holding down the right side of his body. He cleared his eyes and blinked in the bright light of the morning. It was probably eight a.m. by now- he thought, and a glance at the watch on his left wrist confirmed the time was actually eight fifteen. He looked over and found that the weight, which had put his arm to sleep, was Elphaba laying on him with her head pressed against his shoulder. He couldn't help but smile down at her with a soft look on his face. She was beautiful even now after two weeks of running west.

After a little poking around he'd discovered that Payne owed his loyalty to Henkle and after threatening Payne he'd found out that Henkle was working at Area 51, but the man would tell him no more. Great, just great- a secret military base that was one of the most well protected areas in the world. Just what they needed.

Luke shifted his weight gently in order to sneak out from below her and he half fell, half climbed down out of the tree. Getting down involved a lot of maneuvering as half his body was asleep and he was highly stiff from sleeping overnight in the tree. He winced when his feet finally accepted the weight from his body and whimpered softly as he tried to massage his sleeping right wrist and arm to bring feeling back into them. He took inventory of his surrounding and discovered that the bear didn't appear to be anywhere around and he hoped that was because most bears preferred to come out at twilight or at night instead of in the middle of the morning. He felt that it would be good for them to be moving on as soon as possible, however. There was no need to tickle the sleeping dog, so to speak. They were already going to be testing their luck before long with Area 51- there was no need to add to it.

The bear, it appeared, had destroyed the lantern; all that was left was scrap metal. However, it appeared the bear had left his pack alone. It was a good thing because without the pack both of them were going to be in even bigger trouble. He walked over to the backpack and unzipped it to be sure everything was there. A couple changes of clothing for them both, some non perishable food and juice. Elphaba did not even drink water- a mystery that had disturbed him as a doctor. However, it appeared she got the necessary water "components" from drinking other things- like juice and so that was what he had brought. There was a map to try to help them navigate, a flashlight and extra batteries, a small radio, and the necessary first aid items such as gauze and Band-Aids. A box of matches, a rope, and a pocket knife were hidden in one of the pockets of the backpack. The last items were a handheld GPS and money stashed into the last available room. Luke hoped that this survival kit and the money he'd brought would be enough to keep them safe all the way to their destination- though it appeared she'd been making due with even less for the last two weeks. Luke hoisted the pack up into the tree just to be sure that nothing happened to it and then hiked back probably an eight of a mile or such to a small pond that he'd seen earlier. Luke had been a boy scout and advanced all the way to Eagle Scout- the highest level- in his boyhood and now felt grateful for the training.

He breathed a sigh of relief as he peeled off his clothes and waded into the water. It was warm and he felt sure the warmth came from underground hot springs beneath as close as they were to Yellowstone. He journeyed into the water further and began to splash it on himself in some semblance of a bath. It helped to invigorate and awaken him further and the warm water felt nice in the cool morning air. If not for underground hot springs this pond would've been a far more miserable bath. As it were, he took the time to enjoy it washing his face and his hair and getting all the dirt and blood off every inch of him.

Back at the tree, Elphaba was beginning to awaken. She rubbed her eyes in much the same manner as Luke had done and, upon realizing he was nowhere to be found, lowered herself to the ground. No sign of their unwelcome third wheel companion from the night before. Luke's travel pack had been shoved up into the tree and she felt certain that he had not gone far. She decided the best course of action was to go and look for him and headed off into the trees. It didn't take her long to locate the sounds of gurgling water and she followed it, still hiding within the cover of the trees. Her skin was natural camouflage and it was the first time she knew of that she'd actually felt grateful for its odd coloring.

Before long she came within seeing distance of a small pond. She grinned, noting the sounds of splashing and then sighted Luke's distinctive deep, gold hair. Elphaba was unsure why, but she sneaked closer staying hidden within the trees. Momentarily she felt like a little girl - giddy inside and curious at the unknown. He seemed so beautiful and enchanting in that moment and she couldn't resist wanting to stay there. Her heart was pounding crazily inside her chest and something told her that this was both unlike her and foolish, but at the moment she was too entranced to really care. She was curious what was more and wanted to satisfy her curiosity. It was this that finally pressed her to move close enough to drop down behind a rock probably only five or ten feet from the pond using the grass to help her hide. Luke was standing in water waist deep with his back to her and she couldn't help but allow her eyes to go where they wanted. She took in every hint of his handsomeness from her hiding spot. his golden curls reached the nape of his neck and his skin was more tan than usual after all the time in the sun. He had smooth, broad shoulders and a slender body. She could see the ridge of his spine running along his back.

It was at this point Elphaba got slightly more than she'd bargained for. Luke pulled himself up onto the top of one of the rocks several feet away from her, this time facing her, and she saw him head to toe in all of his wet, beautiful, naked glory. Her face broke into a very heated blush and she quickly cast her eyes down and covered then with her hands, breathing rather hard, heart pounding like a drum inside her chest. She felt all funny- similar to the way she'd felt the day they kissed. However, something within her could not keep herself from looking up, slowly. Her breath caught in her throat and she felt distinctly guilty as she trailed her eyes from head to toe. Her face was on fire and she didn't care. She was still sneaking looks up at him, from his strong shoulders, his lightly golden dusted chest, strong muscles, and well.. other areas.. he looked liked some sort of beautiful Greek god. She found her fingers itching to touch his soft skin and see if it felt the way she imagined it did and she had flashback memories of the day on the couch...

It was several minutes later when she sneaked back to the tree and, her mind still befuddled, ate a little of the food in the backpack. She felt relieved when he returned (mercifully clothed) and seemed none the wiser that he had not been completely alone during his bath. However, her crime did have punishments as now the only thing that filled her mind were the pictures of him on that rock. He was all she could think about and having him near her only made it a hundred times worse. She was grateful when he spoke and she could focus her mind on something more appropriate and try to force the stray thoughts from her mind. "Come on.. we're not far from a town I don't think and we could go in and have something to eat perhaps." He said.

Some careful looking at the map revealed that he was right at that Gardiner Montana was only a few miles walk. This wouldn't mean much to most people, but to Luke, who had taken more than one trip to Yellowstone with his boy scout troupe as a kid, knew that Gardiner was the main town entrance for Yellowstone and that the town profited from the National Park. There were places to get something to eat, stores, and a place to stay the night. In other words- it meant civilization. This was a blessing given that Wyoming was the least populous state in the entire United States. Wyoming, at the last count, was just borderline half a million people in the entire state. Why, the largest city in the United States- New York, had eight million people in and of itself. Those were both staggering and scary rates. Especially for two people with no mode of transportation except their own feet and a small pack of supplies. Elphaba was strong, but even so her feet were covered in painful blisters from all the walking she'd done and he knew that they needed to find a new mode of transportation soon. Not to mention they were off course for Area 51. Yellowstone was in the most northwestern corner of the state and Area 51 was in the south western part of the state of Nevada. They could have cut a straight diagonal line from Topeka and not gotten as much off course, but he felt relieved that they were near a part of the state he knew.

Inside a small restaurant in Gardiner they got breakfast and both ate voraciously. Both of them were getting some strange looks given that they were far beyond the norm for the tiny 800 person town. Mostly everyone here seemed to know each other's name and that's just how it was. So, two new people- one of whom was green- attracted a lot of staring. They finished their breakfasts and then decided to change into less conspicuous clothes, deciding rather than wearing the spare outfits in the survival kit, they would buy something at the small strip mall in the downtown area. "You'll be less conspicuous if you wear blue jeans." Luke told her softly, pressing the palm of his hand gently against the small of her back as they walked into the store. "Everyone here is and I expect you're going to find it's that way the rest of the travel time. The majority of Nevada is desert. All the cities are on the border between it and California- except for Las Vegas which is south. Everything else is pretty much a desert. You'll be more comfortable too." He persuaded. "I promise. They'll stare less if you wear jeans than a dress." He whispered softly and it seemed he'd said the right thing for she simply nodded. "Come on.. I'll help you find some." He said with a soft smile. He walked over to one of the racks and chose a pair of jeans that were size six with a long leg to suit her tall height. They were sandblasted, pale jeans that had embroidery up one leg- pale purple flowers and little sequins. He then selected a navy blue blouse to go along. It had short sleeves but they were loose and flowy made of a gauze like material. The front of the blouse was made of a similar gauze material with a deep navy undershirt beneath to keep it from being see through and had a high, split neck with a little ruched and ruffled area in the front and several buttons. It looked the right blend between fancy and casual.

"I look like an idiot." Elphaba muttered, grudgingly, from inside the changing room a few minutes later.

"Aww, I bet you don't. Come out and let me see." Luke persuaded gently.

Elphaba reluctantly opened the door to the changing room and let him see. He smiled. "You don't look like an idiot, Elphaba." He said softly, reaching for her hand and stepping over so that he could look at her reflection in the tall mirror mounted on the side of the changing room. He smiled and slowly wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her against him so that she was leaning her back against him and he could rest his chin in her hair, something he appreciated given that he was so tall there weren't too many women tall enough to cuddle that way. He wrapped his arms around her and gave her a gentle squeeze and leaned down and brushed his lips softly against her cheek. "I think you look beautiful." He whispered, and his voice was so sincere that she couldn't bring herself to chastise him.

He turned her slowly around and wrapped his arms slowly around her waist and looked down into her eyes for a long moment with a soft smile written on his face. He felt her move her arms slowly around his shoulders but didn't move his eyes from hers as he leaned in and she moved to her tiptoes for a brief moment as she met his lips. He smiled against her mouth for a brief second before returning the kiss and crushing her gently against him. They also bought a pair of tennis shoes and socks for Elphaba and a jacket as well as night's in the desert could drop below freezing even while the day had been over a hundred degrees in the shade.

After paying for the remainder of the items they left the store. Luke stopped at the edge of the store and pulled her back too. "Listen." He whispered softly. "That man with the flat bed truck is going to Nevada.. I heard him say it in the store..." Luke whispered, taking Elphaba's hand. "C'mon.. and be quiet." He whispered, pulling her down low as they snuck around the side of the huge cab with the flatbed attached to the back. Luke silently lifted Elphaba onto it and then crawled up himself and jerked one of the big blankets on the back over the two of them and they huddled quietly behind a large pile of boxes so as not to be nervous. Both of them held their breaths until the driver, not noticing his two stowaway, climbed into the cab of the truck and started the engine. They looked at each other and both of them let out soft giggles as he slowly wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close, snuggling her against him and smiling at her.

"I can't believe you convinced me to hop a truck.. this has to be the craziest..."

She was cut off suddenly as he pressed his lips softly over hers. "Next stop... Nevada." He whispered, pulling her close again. "I love you so much." He whispered, tracing his hand gently over her back.

"I ..." She paused, meeting his eyes. "I love you too." She whispered softly.

_A reward for you for you all being so good and patient with me while I was sick :p I'm still not completely well but I do feel a bit better. Hope you enjoyed lol.. _


	13. The Mad Scientist

Elphaba walked quietly across the busy Starbucks restaurant with two cups of hot coffee in her hands and set them down at the table Luke was at. He had chosen a table in the late afternoon sunlight from a western facing window that was set up for computer access. He had already logged onto the white Mac book that was set up at the table and was so completely immersed in what he was doing that Elphaba had to put his coffee cup into his hand so that he didn't have to look up from what he was reading. She couldn't avoid watching these antics with a slight grin as she drank her coffee and looked around the coffee shop. She took in the sights of people walking in and out of the shop and what they ordered. Luke was researching Area 51 and so she kept quiet to allow him concentration. Finally, she walked out into the mall where the Starbucks was and across to a Borders store, which attracted her attention due to the large number of books in it. She walked around in the store aimlessly in hopes of discovering a book that would hold her concentration. She picked up books at random and thumbed through. Finally, she selected a book that looked interesting- for the most part just the cover art. It showed a girl who looked half fish and half human- a blue scaled tail, long and slim in place of legs and the upper body of a human girl with hair the color of fire and skin as perfect and white as a lily. She perched on a rock in a pool of glistening water and in the distance was a castle with a human man standing in a balcony above her watching the waves. Inexplicably fastened to the front cover of the book was a little necklace with a charm in the shape of a mermaid.

Elphaba finally gave in and purchased the book. She carried her sack with the book back to the Starbucks to wait for Luke to finish his research and finally he shut the lid of the computer with a snap. "Soo.. how hard is this going to be?" Elphaba asked softly, fingering the pages of the book inside the sack, something of an anxious movement that she didn't realize she was doing.

"Hard." Luke responded with a sigh. "We need to get a look at this place and from what I've been reading the only way to do that is to hike seven thousand feet to the top of Tikaboo peak. It's 20 miles from Area 51 but with high enough powered binoculars we'd be able to see all we need to see. You used to be able to see it from closer but the area has been buying up the other places around so people can't come and gawk." He explained in a low voice.

"So how hard is it to climb seven thousand feet?" Elphaba asked softly.

"It'll take us a full day climbing to get all the way to the top but we might not have to go all the way up. We just have to get high enough to be able to get a look inside. We need to observe, see if there's a best way to get inside, a safe way. If we get caught." He shook his head with a sigh. "Wellll it'll be bad." He murmured.

"So.. we don't get caught." Elphaba stated simply, reaching over and taking his hands across the small table top and looking into his eyes.

Luke nodded. "Exactly." He said softly, giving her hands a gentle squeeze. "Come on. We need to look into getting a pair of binoculars." He muttered, standing up and then wrapping a gentle arm around her waist to lead her out of the little coffee shop. "We're about three hours from Rachel Nevada. Rachel is the nearest town and close to where Tikaboo Peak is." He murmured softly. "It's too dangerous to camp in the middle of the desert at night time. It can become freezing cold. I'm going to see if I can rent a truck from somewhere in this town and we'll drive as far as we can. At least it will give us shelter for the night. Out here it starts getting common to see the 'next gas 90 miles' signs. We're entering foreign territory now." Luke said with a sigh.

Elphaba let out a sigh of frustration as the book slowly fell closed, the pages making soft sounds against the cover as she allowed it to thump to the floor of the truck cab. Her face was dour, a line formed between her brows that Luke knew meant she was upset. "What's the matter?" He asked as he carefully steered the ancient pickup back into the right lane after avoiding what looked to be a smashed armadillo in the middle of the road. Personally he tried to avoid hitting any animals as much as he possibly could because it always made him feel extraordinarily bad- even if they were already dead ones. They had had to go out of their way to a larger city in Nevada in order to get a decent night's rest (they got a hotel room. He slept on the couch and insisted she sleep in the bed). In that town they had found someone looking to sell a pickup truck that was on its last legs. The thing had over two hundred thousand miles on it and had been new "About world war two" the old man had told them. He didn't need it anymore and Luke had paid him three hundred dollars to take it off his hands. It was probably the cheapest vehicle either of them had ever seen but they both hoped it would do the job of getting them to Rachel Nevada. It was stifling hot and for the first two days of driving Elphaba felt sure that any moment it would storm but it never did. After all, it so rarely rained in the desert that those who weren't used to its oppressive heat could easily almost feel the need for rain in the air when in fact the surrounding environs were quite alright.

Elphaba leaned her head back against the head rest on her seat. The way she was sitting made Luke grin when he could get a glimpse of her out of his peripheral vision. His determination to stick with her had slowly begun to melt her sharp defenses over the past few days and now she was at ease with him as she had been in Topeka. He couldn't put his finger on it, but there was a new kind of feeling between them. He couldn't quite wrap his mind around it. Friendship, maybe? No, really it must be trust. Trust was something that she had never really had for him before. Well, on the one hand she had - enough to stay with him at least and like him at least, but this was a different kind of trust. A "I'm giving you my heart and I know that you'll never hurt me" kind of trust that didn't develop easily between people. The kind of trust that often took a long time to build and was difficult if not impossible to put behind you and forget about entirely.

What he was smiling at right now, though, was her position in the truck. it was a huge old thing - one of those that looked like it could take out an army tank and need only a new coat of paint and a bumper. He wouldn't even be willing to calculate the chances of a little sports car surviving the Green monster (as they were now calling the huge pickup). Perhaps it was coincidence it was green (a washed out green like it had spent too much time parked in the sun), but he didn't think so. The seats were falling apart and so blankets had been put across them to hide the holes in the leather where stuffing showed through. The steering wheel was thread bare and the air conditioning didn't work (unfortunately) but the heater did. (just what they needed in the middle of the desert at one hundred twenty degree heat.) A plus neither had expected was that the ancient radio worked and Luke taught her how to surf the stations to find whatever was good for listening to at the time. They skipped radio stations to avoid commercials.

"What's the matter?" He asked, looking over at her.

"This book had a bad ending." she muttered, dropping the book on the floor by her feet.

"Ahh.. you mean the Little Mermaid died?"

Elphaba nodded, "Yes. She made a deal with a sea witch to earn a pair of legs but the sea witch told her that she had to give up her voice in exchange and that she could only get a human soul if the prince loved her and married her because then a part of his soul would flow into her body but on the first day after he married another woman she would die and turn into sea foam." Elphaba said with a sigh. "And so she took the deal and at first he fell for her but he wound up agreeing to marry a princess from a neighboring kingdom even though at first he thought he loved her. The sea witch gave her a knife and told her if she killed the prince before dawn she would not die but she couldn't bear to see the prince killed and so at dawn she throws herself into the sea and dies." Elphaba made a face. "And I suppose the prince goes on and lives happily ever after? This was a terrible story." Her eyes were stormy with emotions.

Luke smiled slightly. "You know.. Disney made a movie about the Little Mermaid years ago except in his version the prince marries her instead and it all turns out happily in the end."

"I think I'd like that one better." Elphaba muttered.

"Do you really think so?" He asked, taking his eyes off the road for a brief second to look at her. His eyes pulsed with question and shone their normal gold fire with intensity.

"Yes."

"I don't think so at all. And I don't think you'd think so either if you really thought about it." He pointed out.

Elphaba folded her arms crossly. "Why do you say that?" She challenged.

"Perhaps you need to read the ending a bit more closely. She didn't just die.. she became a spirit of the air doing good deeds for others. And if at the end of three hundred years she does good deeds for all of that time she will earn her immortal soul and be able to take in the happiness of man."

"You mean go to Heaven." She pointed out, her voice rather flinty.

"Well.." Luke paused, "Yes I suppose. I never necessarily thought of it that way but yes. I suppose that's what she wants."

"It would have been better if she'd wound up with the Prince."

"Even though the Prince loved the Princess?" Luke challenged.

Elphaba inspected her hands carefully and chewed on her lower lip in an endearing moment that made him want to hold her even more. "Well.. he would learn to love the Mermaid would he not?"

"I suppose, given enough time.. but is that how love is meant to be formed? What if the Princess was his soul mate?"

Elphaba made a soft sound in her thoat that obviously was a disagreement. "I don't think soul mates exist and I don't think Heaven or God exist either." she responded.

"You don't?" Luke asked, suddenly surprised at the turn their conversation was taking. "Why?"

"I... don't remember." Elphaba said with a frustrated sigh. "I just know I don't. I don't know why. I just.. don't know."

"Perhaps because the fairy tale ending you longed for never came?" He whispered softly.

"How do you know that?" Her voice was sharp.

"I... I don't.. " he backtracked, unsure he was ready to reveal to her yet what Chistery had told him about her. To rights she should know, after all, it was her past. But he didn't feel that telling her this right now would really benefit the concentration level she was going to need to have to get out of Area 51 alive with both of them safe. That was the goal, after all. "I just thought. Well never mind." He said, shaking his head. "Maybe no one was ever kind enough to you in your past life for you to believe in God?" He suggested softly.

"Maybe." She acquiesced with a nod, looking down at her hands again.

"Maybe you'd look at the story differently." He said with a small sigh.

"Maybe." She agreed a second time. "Let's listen to music." She suggested, feeling suddenly open and exposed to him now that they'd had this serious discussion between the two of them. She reached over and flicked the button for the radio and began hunting for a station. Finally she discovered a station playing one of his favorite groups- a rock band called Matchbox 20. She grinned as she heard the sound that signaled one of his particular favorites. Elphaba grinned, her good mood restored and leaned back in the old seat and stuck her bare feet up in the dash and leaned backwards her eyes closed. Luke had to will himself to get his eyes off of her so that he didn't drive the truck off the road. He was hard pressed to succeed even so. She was beautiful relaxed as she was and whether she knew it or not (and he'd rather die than tell her given he didn't think she'd react very well) those jeans emphasized her long legs and brought out her nearly nonexistent hips in a way dresses and skirts would never be able to do. Her face was tipped back with the light shining on it, eyes closed. He noted there were slight purple shadows around them. He didn't think it came from tiredness, it was just the contours of her face. She had high defined cheekbones and a long straight nose that made her look like a princess. He had to stop thinking this way or he was going to have more than a problem of almost driving off the road...

He was surprised when she sang along with the song on the radio.

_"All day starin' at the ceilin'_

_makin' friends with shadows on my wall_

_all night hearin' voices tellin' me _

_that I should get some sleep _

_because tomorrow might be good for something._

_Hold on feelin' like I'm headed for a break down_

_and I don't know why_

_But I'm not crazy _

_I'm just a little unwell _

_I know right now you can't tell_

_But stay awhile and maybe then you'll see_

_a different side of me_

_I'm not crazy I'm just a little impaired_

_I know right now you don't care_

_but soon enough you're gonna think of me_

_and how I used to be me._

_And talkin' to myself in public_

_and dodging glances on the train_

_and I know, I know they've all been talkin' bout me _

_I can hear them whisper_

_and it makes me think _

_there must be something wrong with me_

_out of all the hours thinkin' somehow _

_I've lost my mind_

_But I'm not crazy _

_I'm just a little unwell _

_I know right now you can't tell _

_but stay awhile and then maybe you'll see_

_a different side of me. _

_I'm not crazy I'm just a little impaired _

_I know right now you don't care_

_but soon enough you're gonna think of me _

_and how I used to be_

_I been talkin' in my sleep _

_pretty soon they'll come to get me _

_they're takin' me away_

_I'm not crazy _

_I'm just a little unwell _

_I know right now you can't tell _

_but stay awhile and then amybe you'll see _

_a different side of me _

_I'm not crazy I'm just a little impaired _

_I know right now you don't care_

_but soon enough you're gonna think of me _

_and how I used to be_

_hey how I used to be..." _

Luke was surprised at how easily he fell into the sound of her voice. "You're a lovely singer, Elphaba." He said softly, looking over at her. "You've got a beautiful voice." He was somewhat surprised to see what looked suspiciously like a blush rising up in her cheeks.

"Erm.. thanks." She muttered, offering a hint of a smile and she didn't pull away when he reached over and rested his hand over hers.

"Shh." Luke cautioned as he lifted the night vision binoculars to his eyes again. "Okay.. here comes one. Remember don't let him see you. You stay hidden until I give you the go ahead. Promise." He whispered.

"And if you get caught?" She asked indignantly.

"Then you run and don't worry about me." Luke responded tersely.

Elphaba made a face but there was no time to answer as the white SUV came to a stop at the orange sign about three feet from their hiding place in the bushes. They had learned after two days of observing and skulking around Area 51's boundaries that the time of weakest protection was in the middle of the night. After all, who expected for a mass break in at two thirty am in the middle of the week. They had been watching to find the time of weakest guard and finding out as much as they could about Chistery - which was, unfortunately, mostly nothing. They only had managed to get hold of a few blue printed drawings out of an SUV left unattended that showed where "animal control" was located. They could only hope it was the right place because they might have very little time if anyone from Area 51 realized they'd been compromised. This was dangerous. They could wind up in jail for years for this and it was technically treason considering Area 51 was also a military base, but neither of them spoke of the risks. They just had better not get caught was all there was to it.

They had learned that the border to area 51, marked by signs, was patrolled by camo dudes in camouflage who drove white SUVs. Elphaba's green skin once more acted like a natural camouflage for her and both of them wore dark clothes and Luke had smeared his face with black charcoal to avoid the pale white of his skin sticking out in the darkness. With his face all dark and his eyes shining like two twin candle flames Elphaba fancied he looked a little like a black cat and tried to conceal a laugh.

Suddenly, Luke pounced and she heard a muffled groan and then silence. "It's safe you can come out." He muttered, at length.

"Put this on." he whispered, holding out a large camo uniform. It had come off of the other man riding in the SUV with the guard Luke had knocked out. She then realized he was knocked out too.

"Whatever happened to I promise I shall do no harm?" She quipped.

He smirked slightly. "I didn't do any ... lasting.. harm." He said with a grin. "I just knocked them out. They'll come to in a few minutes and they never saw me so they'll have no idea what happened. Help me drag them into the bushes." Elphaba obliged and between the two of them they soon had the men hidden in the bushes and had stripped them of their uniforms. "I feel bad for whichever one of them is going to try to get into your skinny girl jeans." Luke muttered with a smirk, looking at the two men who looked more like they'd come off a football field than anything else the way they were beefed up. Elphaba held back a snigger as she pulled the clothes on. She practically swam in them they were so large. The pants had to be rolled and cuffed about six times and the shirt sagged low but it covered her and kept her hidden from prying eyes. Soon Luke too was dressed and they climbed into the white SUV and he revved the engine. "Let's go." He murmured.

It took then almost half an hour to navigate their way into the main building now pretending that they were the two camo dudes they had replaced. Elphaba followed him along dimly lit corridors until they came to the place marked on the map. Luke gently reached forward and pushed open the door. At first the darkness pressed on their eyes so heavily that they could see nothing until they slowly began to adjust to the darkness and he reached into his pocket and found a flashlight which he shown around the room. Suddenly from somewhere in the corner there was a soft, terrified shriek. It was a room, as best Elphaba could see in the dimness, that was built in the round with tiered steps down. Everything seemed to be made of glass even the floor which appeared to have lights beneath it or something. The shelves were glass and stretched ceiling to floor with beakers cluttering the surfaces. Work tables set around the room and fight burned on Bunsen burners in blue flames. A large padlocked cage was in the far area of the room and she could see a hulking figure on a perch that made her heart leap and thud just below her throat. "Ch...chistery?" Elphaba whispered, stepping forward alone and Luke hung back, not following. This was their moment and not one he would interrupt.

Elphaba stepped forward holding out a hand. The monkey turned inside the cage. There was barely room for him to turn and his wings were cramped, folded on his back so that he could not stretch them out. "I'm sorry, Chistery." She whispered softly, her voice catching, heartfelt. "I didn't mean to hurt you. I don't remember anything. I don't remember who I am or who you are. I'm sorry." She whispered, almost imploringly.

She saw the monkey shift as he looked at her. "Chistery sorry too." the monkey whispered. "Chistery miss Elphie." he whispered.

"Let's find a way to get you out of there. We came to rescue you and we may not have much time.. sneaking in here is dangerous." She whispered, looking around as she said it. She pulled a pin out of her hair and used it to pick the large padlock on the cage and the door swung wide and the monkey immediately jumped onto Elphaba's shoulder.

"Now.. let's get out of here." Elphaba whispered, turning with Chistery on her arm.

"Not so fast." A voice said silkily above. Suddenly the room blazed to light as a flame spread around a gutter for that purpose on the edge of the room. The flames reflected freakishly in the glass. The gas in the trenches spit and hissed as it took. Above them on the upper tier by the door stood a man in a white coat. To Luke's mind he was the very epitome of the Mad Scientist. He had a white coat, large glasses, crazy white hair, and a name tag that read "Dr. Henkle"

Chistery let out a terrified squeak and almost fell off of Elphaba's shoulder.

Standing in the door way was.. "The Terrible Wizard of Oz!" Chistery squeaked, pointing and wrapping his arms tightly around Elphaba's shoulders so he wouldn't fall off, his big eyes wide and terrified.

_Well hi there.. it's been awhile. Sorry . I got some writer's block and that combined with lots of homework has been keeping me busy but I finally found my vein of thought and got to writing again today. So now we've come full circle almost... anyone surprised at the identity of Dr. Henkle? smirk Don't you all love cliffhangers? _


	14. Defying Gravity Reprise

"Luke no!" Elphaba shrieked, but it was too late. Luke had dashed from beside Elphaba and dove at the Wizard who was now rolling across the see through glass floor with the doctor. Elphaba could see little of their fight except that both of them were flinging punches crazily and every once in awhile she'd hear one of them let out a moan of desperation as they tried to deliver a blow to the other or received one themselves. "Luke no! no! just let him go!" Elphaba yelled, terrified that something would happen to him. By this time Chistery had worked his way into her arms and she was holding onto him so tightly she was probably squeezing him a bit too tight. The monkey didn't protest, just burying his face into her stolen camouflaged clothing. "Luke be careful!" She protested but neither of them acknowledged her at all until Luke let out a moan and fell over, completely still. Elphaba let out a shriek of terror as did Chistery. "Luke!" She tried to rush towards him, but the Wizard had stood up and was now between her and Luke so that there was no way she would be able to get to Luke without having to go through the Wizard.

The Wizard threw his head back and laughed as he advanced on Elphaba. Luke didn't move. He was either unconscious or... dead... No! She wasn't going to think like that. He was fine. He was just knocked out. Right? Chistery dashed from her arms and scampered across one of the counters. The wizard was advancing on her. Now he had a scalpel dripping red blood in his hand and it reminded her of something from the movie Texas Chainsaw Massacre- which had caused bad dreams for several days after she'd watched it- "You got rid of me, Elphaba. You threw me out of Oz." He whispered. "Or can you remember any of that? I've had it on a verrry reliable source that you don't remember your past. Don't remember Oz?" He clucked in a pseudo sympathetic way. She could tell he certainly wasn't sorry that her lack of memory had caused this disaster. Well, it certainly wasn't a disaster for him! He let out a long, low cackle and Elphaba literally began to shake in her boots. "Chistery?" She whispered.

"You think that stupid little monkey's going to help you now?" The wizard asked, laughing even more as he slowly backed her in between the wall and one of the lab counters. There was nowhere for her to go. The wizard reached up and pressed her head back against the wall of glass behind her. She was shaking, her chest rising and falling crazily, her heart pounding far faster than normal.

"Let go of me." Elphaba hissed, her voice barely shaking.

The wizard seemed to find this hilarious as he let out another laugh. "Because of _You _I'm no longer in Oz. Because of _You _Glinda forced me out. Do you really think I'm going to let you go back and tell her the truth and ruin my wonderful reputation with all the people of Oz? I'm sure it wouldn't be enough for you for just your closest friends to know who the real evil one was. You'd want to tell all the Munchkinlanders and the rest of them too I'm sure. I can't have that and I've let you go once. I was naive then. I'm not so naive anymore. And you.. you will never fly again. Hell you'll never even remember Oz again so what's the point of me telling you all this. You think you were born in Topeka." He tilted his head back letting out a laugh. It was a cruel, terrible laugh.

At this exact moment, Elphaba saw a blur of brown and red and a flash of something and the wizard staggered. He swayed as if caught in the midst of the strongest wind possible for a human to face and then he toppled straight back through the glass case to the floor. He didn't move. Elphaba was still breathing hard as Chistery leaped from the glass case onto her shoulder. In his hands was... The Grimmerie! She let out a gasp of surprise as she saw The Grimmerie was what he had used to hit the Wizard over the head with that had caused him to fall into the case and he was now definitely dead. His neck looked broken and he wasn't breathing. She was still too scared to be grateful of this. "Chistery?!" She whispered. "Where did you get that?! I left it in Luke's living room!"

Chistery shook his head. "No you didn't.. you just thought you did! Luke brought it with him. Chistery finded it in Luke's pack!" He said, indicating the camo dude bag Luke had been wearing. It was as if Luke had known... had he known? Elphaba shook her head. Was it possible that Luke knew more about her history that she did? Oh why couldn't she remember? She thought she remembered something. She thought she remembered another confrontation with this man. What was it he had said about a woman named Glinda? Glinda.. Glinda... it was so familiar.. who was she? Glinda.. The view of a blonde, beautiful woman came into her mind. She had sparkling blue eyes and her hair was amassed in a bun of curls on top of her head and she wore a blue gown studded in diamonds that shone like tiny stars. She had a wand. It would have been a beautiful picture, however, there were tears coursing down her face. Within the picture another girl rushed in, black dress, black pointed hat.. green skin.. her! Elphaba felt tears begin to gather at the corners of her eyes. Why couldn't she see more? It was rushing away from her as fast as it could. Where? Who? How?

The tears burned and she swiped them away impatiently. "Come on. Got to get out of here, Elphie." Chistery murmured, leaping onto her shoulder. "They'll discover what's happened here. We have to burn the whole lab or else they'll be able to track us down with finger prints."

"What are those?" Elphie whispered.

"Chistery doesn't know, but he knows only one way to get rid of them." He reached up and grabbed a chemical that was highly flammable and then began pouring it all over the floor of the room. Elphaba took this moment to run across the room to Luke.

"Luke?" She whispered softly. She reached her hand down and pressed it against his forehead. "Luke! Come on... wake up .. wake up!" She shook him desperately but he remained as limp as a rag doll. She leaned down and slowly pressed a gentle kiss on his lips and he coughed and opened his eyes, slowly sitting up. He looked around and assessed the situation within a few seconds.

"We need to get out of here." He whispered, seeing the dead wizard across the room and Chistery spilling the chemicals around them. "Chistery! Can you carry us?! They'll be searching for us within a few seconds!"

Chistery looked up from his task and slowly shook his head. "No.. Chistery is not strong enough to carry two people." He whispered with a sad shake of his head.

"Oh.. well then you have to go." Luke whispered, tracing his thumb gently along Elphaba's cheek. Before he'd even finished speaking she was shaking her head.

"No! I'm not going without you!"

"Elphaba don't be stupid! I'll get out. Somehow."

"How?!" She demanded.

"I don't know.. just somehow." He protested.

"No! I'm not going to leave here without you, Luke." She whispered, winding her arms around his shoulders and leaning into him.

Chistery walked up behind them and held out the Grimmerie, slowly dropping the book into Elphaba's lap. "Elphie can get out. She can get Luke out too. She knows. Chistery's Elphie knows the spell." Chistery said, looking up at her with shoe button bright eyes as he pressed her slender, green fingers around the book's binding. "Does Elphie remember?"

"I think so." She whispered. "In the dream of a dream. A blonde woman and you ... and the wizard's palace." She whispered.

Chistery grinned as he walked back across the room, holding something in his hands. It looked, at first, to be a long stick, but in the light from the fire on the far side of the room, it turned out to be a broom. It was her broom. She gripped the handle of the broom and looked at it with a long sigh. She wasn't sure she could remember this. Her memories were swirling in and out of her head so fast and she resented being here where there was no luxury of time to sit and analyze all of them and figure out. She cursed the wizard for putting her in this position. Memories she'd been trying to remember for months were coming back and she didn't have the time to find out anything about them. She closed her eyes and held the book in her lap as she kneeled on the floor. She flipped through it, looking desperately for the page. "There." She whispered. "Chistery I'm scared. I'm scared." She whispered, looking at the monkey desperately. "I'm going to mess it up! I was a naive little student when I did this spell!" She exclaimed, tears burning their way down her face. "I can't do this! I can't! I'm going to mess it up! I'll hurt someone!"

"No Elphie won't! Elphie can do it!" Chistery murmured, pressing his hand on her shoulder.

"No! I swore I wouldn't do it again! Chistery I swore! No more good deeds! Remember! No good deed goes unpunished.. no act of charity goes unresented. No good deed goes unpunished that's my new creed. I wrote of good intentions... " She flicked her hand over her eyes. "Nessa... Dr. Dillamond... Fiyero.." She whispered, not even knowing the names she was saying as each evoked a picture of the person that she couldn't quite remember. It was as if she was living in a fog and they were on the other side. "One question haunts and hurts too much to mention. Was I really seeking good or just seeking attention? Is that all good deed are when looked at with an ice cold eye? If that's all good deeds are then maybe that's the reason why no good deed goes unpunished... I meant well- look at what well meant did! Alright enough! So be it! Let all Oz be agreed I'm wicked through and through... I promise no good deed will I attempt to do again.. ever again! Remember?!" She whispered, tears still falling in a burning trail from her sore eyes.

"Elphaba. Elphaba..." Luke whispered, slowly pressing his hands on her face and tipping it up until he could look her straight in the eyes. "You can do this. You won't mess the spell up. Come on. Get us out of here. I trust you. I trust you with my life." He whispered, reaching forward and taking her hand. He pressed her hand gently against where his heart was beating frantically against his chest. She could feel it under her palm. It felt like the butterflies she used to catch as a child. More memories. Nessarose...childhood..

She didn't say anything but merely reached for the book and laid it in the only dry spot in the floor in front of her and crouched over it leaning on her hands using what little light there was from the fire around the edge of the room in its pit to help her to see the words though she didn't really need the book anymore. "_Aven tatey aven tatey ah may ay tay atum ah may ah tah tay may tu se say ta ah may ah tay ah tum ditum_!" She exclaimed, her brow furrowed in concentration as she ran her finger down the column of what looked like fancy scribbling to Chistery and Luke. She fell backwards into Luke's chest when she had finished and let out a cry of horror at her actions and clung to him. She had done what she had sworn never again to do.

"Elphie! Look!" Chistery exclaimed, pointing with his finger. Above them the broom was hovering in mid air as if it was begging them to ride it. "Come on!" exclaimed the little monkey. Luke got to his feet and helped her to her feet.

"I'm going to fly on the broom. I don't .. think.. I don't like HEIGHTS!" Luke exclaimed, coming to himself now that he realized exactly what Chistery had had in mind. His face was wrought with terror. "No no no!! I don't even like airplanes! NO! I'm not going on there!" He exclaimed, shaking his head, his blonde curls dancing in the light of the fire.

"Come on! It'll work!" Elphaba exclaimed, suddenly sure. She grabbed his hand and leaped onto the broom, pulling him up behind her. "Hang on tight." She whispered. Chistery was perched on her shoulder still even though he could fly perfectly well of his own accord.

"I don't know about this! I don't defy gravity! I'm a HUMAN!" He exclaimed. However, there wasn't time for more discussion as the first hit the chemicals and the whole room went up in flames around them.

The broom leaped as though it had a life of its own and burst out of the flaming tower and high up into the night sky with the stars. Down below them they could see the raging inferno, the camo dudes rushing towards it. They'd only just gotten out in time.

"So what airline are we booking tickets with to get home?" Luke asked, his voice sounding small.

"You mean you don't want to go all the way back to Topeka on my broom?"

"Ha ha.. very funny. Over my dead body!"

"Just don't look down." Elphaba murmured, suddenly not scared anymore.

Of course he did. "Oh my Gosh! Shit shit shit! Get us down from here! Elphaba!! I DON'T LIKE HEIGHTS!"


	15. There's No Place Like Home

_Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock_

Came the steady sound of the little clock on the dresser keeping time. It had an illuminated face and bright blue numbers that were currently glowing in a pulsing blue and showing the time as eleven minutes after three a.m. Luke slowly turned over and sat up. He rubbed his eyes from habit even though there was no sleep gathered in the corners of his eyes to brush away. The doctor sighed and rubbed his temples and looked around his darkened bedroom. Light from the street didn't pass through the heavy curtain over the window and, thus, had he not had the little clock on the dresser, there would have been no way to tell what time it was. It could've been high noon for all he knew. Well, except for the fact that he was fairly certain he had laid there and watched every minute of the last four hours since he had come to bed tick by. The truth of the matter was, he was beginning to understand the concept of insomnia as Elphaba knew it. He had hardly been able to sleep since they had returned from Area 51. They had been back from that "adventure" for nearly three days and the amount of time he'd slept over those days was roughly about four or five hours and even that had been punctuated by constant tossing and turning from one side of the bed to the next.

Finally, he gave up sleeping for tonight as another lost cause the way he had done the past two nights and got up from the bed and left his bedroom and went out into the kitchen. He noticed that Elphaba, for once, was actually asleep. He could tell from the gentle way her back rose and fell (since she was sleeping in the odd position that was almost entirely on her stomach and her head rested on her arm with her knees drawn up close) that her deep breathing was definitely asleep breathing. Even Elphaba, who suffered constantly from insomnia, was asleep and he, Luke, who had never had a problem sleeping at any time day or night suddenly found himself plagued with insomnia.

He trudged into the kitchen area and turned on the light flicking it until it was as dim as it could possibly go so that it wouldn't wake Elphaba. He sat down at the island on one of the high chairs and reached over to the coffee pot that was still plugged in. He sloshed coffee into a mug that was sitting there and didn't bother to put in any cream or sugar. He noted that the caffeine content was probably not helping his insomnia, but it had been bad before the coffee too, so he couldn't see how it mattered one way or another. He took a drink and nearly scalded the back of his throat, not having expected it to be so hot. He managed to swallow and was merely left with that burning after taste of singed taste buds that leaves you unable to taste anything for the next two or three days. He reached over and picked up the newspaper, which he hadn't had time to read yet, and looked at the headline.

Out of his peripheral vision he saw a flicker of movement. He looked up to see Chistery sitting opposite him on the other stool. Without missing a beat, the blue winged monkey reached over and took the handle of the coffee pot and poured the remaining liquid into a second mug, added sugar from the little bowl and easily opened a carton of creamer and dumped it into the cup and swirled the whole mix around with his finger acting as a coffee stir before lifting the cup to his mouth and downing a drink. Luke raised an eyebrow and shook his head. Had he not just been on a journey with the Wicked Witch of the West, flown on a broom that he was quite certain had been enchanted, and met a green woman before that whose brain waves didn't measure like any other coma patient he'd ever had who also didn't seem to be from the right time- he'd have sworn he was either quite drunk or hallucinating. Since when did blue winged monkeys appear to drink coffee with you at three in morning?!

Chistery noticed Luke's staring as he turned over an _American Medical Journal _from the stack of books and papers. "Chistery apologizes." the monkey murmured, "But he neeeeeds his coffee." The monkey responded.

"Caffeine fix much?" Luke muttered under his breath with a shake of his head.

"Caffeine?" The monkey asked, taking another drink and giving Luke a frankly puzzled look.

Luke shook his head again, "It's a complex chemical molecule made from... Never mind." Luke muttered, shaking his head. They could forego the chemistry lesson because it was obvious Chistery didn't know what half of the words were. The silence was so pressing on them after five minutes that Luke decided he was going to have to talk to the monkey. He couldn't take the silence. He had the same feeling you might have if you were sitting at the table with someone and neither of you said a single word to the other. "So um, Chistery, do you _normally_ drink coffee at three a.m.?"

Chistery's eyes sparkled with glee, "Oh yes! With Chistery's Elphie. We drinks our coffee every morning at three. Chistery takes his coffee with cream and sugar and Elphie takes hers black. Chistery has not had coffee in a long time. Chistery's head hurts without his coffee fix."

"I thought she was _against _the cruelty to animals." Luke muttered low.

"Oh she is doc! She is!" Chistery exclaimed, the point definitely lost on him and Luke didn't pursue it.

They were quiet again for a minute before Chistery continued speaking, "Chistery did not tell Luke something when he was telling about Elphie's life." the monkey murmured, hanging his head low and twiddling his fingers together reminiscent of a human who felt extremely guilty about something. He couldn't manage to look Luke in the eyes and he was still stirring his finger through his coffee. He looked somewhat sad at this point and quite ashamed as he paid more attention to the coffee he'd nearly finished instead of Luke.

"What do you mean, something you didn't tell me?" Luke asked, a cold, clammy feeling had begun to develop in his lower stomach. His stomach felt as if someone had wrapped a cold hand around his gut and started squeezing. He had the feeling that whatever Chistery was about to tell him was going to be something he didn't want to know.

The monkey sighed and he ran across the room and took the Grimmerie out of Elphaba's back without causing her to so much as move a muscle. Chistery knew how to get around her without awakening her as Luke tended to do. Before long, the monkey scampered back bringing the book with him, holding it safely close to his chest until he laid it open on the island and clambered back to his chair again before he began flipping through the book towards the end of it, obviously intent on finding what he was looking for. Finally, he did find it. He turned the book around and pointed to the picture on the page that he wanted. Luke was surprised to find a picture looking up at him, a drawing that took up almost an entire page. It was a dark skinned man with dark hair and eyes. He looked as if he'd spent a good deal of time in the sun. However, none of that was as startling as the line of blue diamonds. they were tiny around his eyes like a mask and then a couple on the sides of his cheeks, larger... a blue diamoned painted man. Chistery pointed at the picture and on the page the words still made no sense, but the picture did. "Fiyero Tiggelaar." Chistery pointed at the man. "He's a prince in the Vinkus?"

"The what kus?" Luke murmured.

"Vinkus. It is the western land. Winkie country."

"Oh.." Luke muttered thinking he might be missing something. "So this.. this prince.. what does he have to do with anything?" Luke felt a sense of desperation coupled with frustration seep over him.

"Fiyero loves Elphie."

Luke had been afraid of that. He wasn't even sure what had encouraged this, until now, completely irrational fear except that he knew that Elphaba was bound to have a life back in Oz. She would have a story, a voice, a place to go and plans that did not include him. The idea that she had had a former love shouldn't have put him so much on the defensive as it did now, but he couldn't help it. He'd gotten used to having her in his life and the idea that someone might take that all away wrong footed him and made him sad and very tired. For the first time he imagined he understood what those old people who came to the hospital day after day to receive treatment or medication of some kind must feel like. They had to feel old and defeated and dragged down. Perhaps they hurt as bad as his heart hurt right now. On the same token, he felt somewhat relieved that there were those in Oz who had probably missed her, were maybe frantically looking for her the way Chistery had been since she arrived here in our world. It made him feel relieved that when she eventually went back - for he now realized there was no way she could not go back at some point- that there would be those who cared for and loved her to receive her home and help her rebuild all she had lost. There was some roaring masculine monster inside of him screamed that he wanted Elphaba and she was his. But then, Luke reminded himself, she'd had a life before she came here..

"Chistery.." He murmured, folding his hands and resting his forehead on them, elbows propped on the island. "Is he good to her? Does he honestly care for her?"

Chistery nodded, "Yes. He has liked her since their Shiz days, but Fiyero was with Miss Galinda first. He found out they were not compatible and then he realized he likeded miss Elphie but she no interested in him then because he was interesteded in Galinda who was her friend. So at first she ignored him.. but then she admitted she likes him too."

"And they got together?"

Chistery nodded, "Yes. Elphie was in danger so they mades a plan to fake her death and then meet and escape out of Oz together but when we were going to meet him a big storm comes. Chistery and Elphie get blowned away!"

Luke nodded and sighed, "So he's probably very worried about her?"

Chistery nodded, "Yes."

"Why didn't you tell me this before?!" Luke demanded, running his fingers through his hair.

"Chistery like Luke.. Luke love Elphie. Did not want to make Luke sad." Chistery explained.

Luke sighed and nodded, his mind feeling very full of emotions at this point. He didn't get a chance to ask in more detail at this point though, for they heard, from across the room, an almost unearthly scream and a loud _thunk! _Luke and Chistery looked at each other and leaped from their respective chairs so fast that Luke knocked his chair over, resulting in another bang from somewhere behind him. They made it to the edge of the sofa bed. They hadn't realized Elphaba had been tossing and turning all over her bed until she had screamed and fallen out of it. The covers were strewn across the floor and rolled about her like a mummy in its burial shroud. "Elphaba.." Luke murmured, dropping to his knees beside her and gently beginning to unwind the cloths from her. She was sobbing and the moment he freed her he lifted her into his arms. He sighed and, in grave concern, wrapped his arms around her as she buried her tearful, burning face into his chest and cried and cried, not even caring about how much the tears hurt as she let them soak into the soft cotton of his shirt. Luke's hands tenderly traced her back and her spine, her shoulders. He pressed his face into her ebony, sweet smelling hair and pressed soft kisses on it hoping to calm her as she clung to him and cried. "Did you have a bad dream?" He asked softly.

"N... no.. w..well yes but I.. I rem..emebered I remember e.everything." She stammered between sobs as she clung to him.

Luke smiled softly and pressed his hands against her back again soothingly. "Shh.. it's okay.. it's going to be okay."

"I want to go home." She whispered. "I want to go home! I don't belong here! I know how Dorothy felt. This world isn't mine and I want to go back to Oz." she whispered, her crying almost nonsensical. Who could blame her. After almost three months of wandering she'd finally figured out who she was.. it was only right that she would want to go home. No wonder when her memory came back. Luke nodded, keeping his head in her hair. He'd known she'd want to go sometime. He couldn't keep her here with him. It wouldn't be fair to her. People didn't belong in worlds other than where they were born. Not to mention that, she wasn't even a normal munchkinlander or Ozian. She was green and she was over a hundred years past her own time. This wasn't a place she belonged.

"Shh.." He whispered. "We'll get you home." He murmured. "We'll find a way. Surely there's something in the Grimmerie to help us." He murmured.

Elphaba took a hiccupping gasp. "You really think so?" She whispered softly.

"I promise, Elphaba. We'll find a way to get you home." He whispered, rubbing her back. He pulled the Grimmerie close and Chistery stood close against them as they pulled the pages open and began to look through them somewhat desperately. Elphaba closed her eyes as tears squeezed out.

"There's no place like home.. there's no place like home!" She whispered.

And suddenly the entire room gave a lurch. Elphaba and Luke both yelled this time and Chistery let out a shriek of indignation as they spun through time and space unaware of anything that was going on around them except that something extremely odd was happening and they didn't know what it was...

There's no place like home...

_So finally Fiyero gets his mention! Wonder what's happening to Elphaba? Guess you'll find out in the next Chappie.. ;) hehee I looove clifffhangers .. well when I'm on the writing end :p I'll try to update later tonight. This was meant to be a doubly long chappie but I didn't get up early enough and remembered that cliffhangers are nice ;) So I'm posting this little bit and more soon! Hope you enjoyed! Theories as to what's happening are welcome. I bet you've got it all figured out by now though. :p Maybe Glinda finally got something right! _


	16. Gonna Make You Popular!

"This is the sitting room, Miss. Can I get you anything else?" The voice, overeager to please, even to her ears, asked.

"No thank you."

"I'll let Lady Glinda know you're here then." The servant said, withdrawing with a look of extreme doubt on his face. The woman wasn't exactly given to enjoying visitors and she never took them in her private chambers- especially her bedroom and the servant didn't think she was going to cotton too kindly to finding out he'd taken a guest he'd never laid eyes on before there... well he was going to be lucky if he still had a job but the guest had insisted and she had told him that if he didn't agree to what she'd said she was going to hex him and he'd never exactly had a lot of bravery in his meat. He supposed he was like that cowardly lion what got famous the previous winter from traveling around with Dorothy and her motley crew. He supposed maybe he was even more cowardly than the lion if you got honestly down to it. He didn't have the courage to deny her what she wanted with that threat. Besides, she did look harmless enough. She probably wasn't going to do anything if he did let her into the sitting room and if he didn't she was going to hurt him! He would just have to be certain to count all the silver when she was gone. Yes, that was what he would do. It would be fine Grimstooth was certain, but he still felt uneasy as he entered the presence chamber where Lady Glinda was sitting to receive her visitors. There would be no more that day because of the huge ball that night. It was the night that Glinda would announce that she was accepting the position as ruler of their country at the ball. This had been a decision she'd been considering for many weeks carefully. Glinda wanted to start earning that ridiculous nickname she'd been given. Glinda the Good- well if she was going to be Glinda the Good then she ought to be earning it.

"Miss Glinda, I've finished all you assigned me for today and all of your guests have been seen-"

"Ah, thank you Grimstooth." She handed him a gold coin for the day's wages. "You may go. You should return tonight about six to begin setting up with the others."

"V-..very well, Miss." He said. "But-.."

"Oh don't worry about it.. I've included a very very generous tip in your weekly wages for staying late tonight."

"Oh.. um well that wasn't what I..."

"It's perfectly alright, now.. run along." She said, laughing softly and brushing a golden-white curl out of her face and giving him a shooing motion with her hand, leaving the little house dwarf with no choice other than to run along and get into his little serving tux for the ball that night and not inform Glinda about her guest. He hoped that he would still have a job in the morning. If not he expected he would never see the woman again to give her a piece of his mind, but he comforted himself with this thought even so.

Glinda smiled slightly and stayed there on her chair with her eyes closed for a moment. It was only when she heard a familiar, right, tenor voice interrupt her thoughts, "What are you doing here? You should be getting ready for tonight."

Glinda's eyes shot open to reveal a tall man standing about ten feet away from her in the entrance area. He was very tall, probably six feet and a few inches. Glinda prided herself on her five feet six and he towered over her by at least 10 inches. He wasn't bulky by any means, no, he was rather more thin in stature. You couldn't tell that he was muscled under his clothes, not with his thinness and tall height. He had slender shoulders also. His skin was some cinnamon color between light and dark. He had narrow eyes that reminded her of a cat, but not too narrow, just less round than someone from central Oz. He had dark, straight hair that he kept cut short but loose around his face. He had the deepest eyes, the darkest chocolate she had ever seen. He had a mouth which was currently smiling and his dark eyes were sparkling. He wore clothes that looked amazingly nice at the moment and had slicked his hair back. A pair of black tuxedo pants and a black jacket with the white traditional shirt underneath. He had shoes that were so shiny they reflected the room in them. Freshly polished. However, none of this was the most striking thing about him. The most striking, at least Glinda decided, was the fact that he had blue diamonds on his face. Either painted on or tattooed on, she'd never asked him. It was laughable that she couldn't know something so simple about him and yet they'd been engaged a few years before. How naive she had been back then! In any case, his diamonds were made of dark blue. His eyes were lined with tiny blue ones that seemed to only accent the small, navy blue mask he was holding in one hand. The rest of his body that she had seen, arms, legs and chest also had the diamonds but on those places they were larger and placed strategically unlike those tiny ones around the eyes. The only thing missing was that the smile didn't make it to his eyes...

Yes.. it was certain, Fiyero Tiggelaar was a god. He was absolutely beautiful. He had gone to school with her at Shiz and she'd been obsessed with him ever since. They'd been briefly engaged but he broke it off to pursue Elphaba and she didn't blame him. They fit together so much better than she did with him. They had common interests at least. At the time she had felt slightly betrayed, but she held no ill will against him and had, in fact, understood his decision. He had never been as keen on her as she was on him. She hadn't been too angry with him when he left- though he certain could have chosen a better night to do it than in the middle of their engagement party in the middle of all of Oz high society- she could forgive him for that thought, it was the least she had deserved. Thinking back on her behavior in her school years and growing up years (for Glinda had never considered herself honestly grown up until just a few months ago when she lost her best friend..) well, it was frankly beyond shameful. The way she had been responsible for so much damage. If she really wanted to be honest, she was more evil than Elphaba ever had been.

Fiyero sighed as he walked towards her, "I can tell what you're thinking you know. You're not evil and you never have been It just took you a while to understand the world. Your parents protected you too much as a child is all. You're not a bad person, Glinda." He said, kneeling down beside her chair and taking her smaller, pale hand in one of his bigger ones. She noted that even the back of his hands each had a diamond on them and it almost made her laugh. Well, at least he was symmetrical! He wouldn't even be a health hazard to someone with an obsessive compulsive problem. She pushed the thought from her mind.

"How do you do that?"

"Do what?" Fiyero murmured, taken aback.

"Know what I'm thinking."

"Not difficult. It was written all over your face that you're thinking about. Thinking that maybe if you were the ruler of Oz it'd all fall apart again and it won't."

"How do you know?"

"I know." He said simply and irritatingly refused to say more on the subject.

"Okay well.. I'll trust you." She said with a sigh, reaching up to rub her brow. "Thanks for agreeing to be my escort tonight." She said, looking over at him. "I.. really appreciate it. I know you.. don't really feel like... celebrating. Honestly neither do I but .."

Fiyero shook his head reflexively, "Don't mention it.. it's alright. You needed an escort and all Oz can't simply stop living because you and I are in pain." He whispered, looking down at his shoes.

"You miss her a lot." Glinda murmured.

Fiyero simply nodded, "I do. I keep thinking of all the things I could have done to save her. I don't even know what happened to her." He whispered.

Glinda nodded, "I never should've let it get that bad. I should've told people the truth years ago instead of just letting them believe what the Wizard and Madame Morrible said. Now I've told them and they believe me but it's too late to do any good for her."

Fiyero sighed, "Glinda.. you have to stop.. blaming yourself for her death. You should be celebrating tonight. You're about to become the ruler of our country and you'll be a good one. You've learned all that you need to learn now to be an excellent leader. You'll do wonderfully and the people of Oz will be glad to have you. Besides, you can still do all Elphaba intended to do. You can free the Animals in her name. You could pass the act in her name even if you wanted." He murmured, "Since it was what she dedicated her life to."

Glinda nodded, "I will." she softly, looking down for a second. "But what about you. You're one to talk.. you blame yourself just as much."

"It's different. I knew things in Oz were getting bad. I ought to have taken her away. I never should have..."

"Stop it. If I'm not allowed to blame myself then neither are you. Truce."

"Truce then... Now.. why aren't you upstairs making yourself beautiful?" He asked, with a slight smile.

Glinda smiled, "Well.. I did have a new dress made. And.. it would be a shame if I didn't go given how handsome my escort is.. annd I would be sad if I didn't get to dance with you. You're such a good dancer."

He grimaced, "All the lessons my parents forced on me as a boy seem to have stuck. Apparently dancing lessons are important so the prince can go to the ball and sweep the lovely girl off her feet." He rolled his eyes to add to his slightly sarcastic tone.

"Does almost running her over in a carriage count?" Glinda asked with a snigger.

Fiyero smiled slightly again. "I'm not sure." He admitted, shaking his head after Glinda as she left the room to go and change for the ball that would be starting in less than a few hours. Strictly speaking, it was a masque, but the two terms were almost interchangeable to him except that for one you wore something small over your eyes or maybe your entire face to try to keep yourself from being recognizable (a feat that would be impossible for him given his height and his darker than most's complexion, looking as if he'd spent multiple days out in the sun.) Glinda had tried to explain the difference (for apparently there was quite a lot) when they were back at Shiz, but he never had quite understood it. Perhaps it was another one of those things that would get filed away under the "brainless" category of his mind. He sighed, shook his head, and took a seat in the large throne-like chair that she had just vacated. For once he was alone and he let the wear he'd been feeling over the past few months slip up on him. His constant companion was guilt and sadness now that slunk around his ankles like a cat and curled on his shoulders with its Cheshire like grin to remind him that it was his fault Elphaba had died, for he always had blamed himself. He should have taken her away that night in the woods. He had known that Oz was becoming more unstable. He had known her danger was greater and greater and yet he had allowed her to go back into that. Stupid Stupid Stupid!

Elphaba smiled to herself slightly as she looked around the bedroom. The bedroom of present day Glinda hadn't changed very much. She might have grown up, but her bedroom still reflected the one of the roommate Elphie had been stuck with. There was a lot of pink and a walk in closet revealed, Elphie counted quickly, at least 500 pairs of shoes - she lost count after that. The bed was huge- larger than she knew existed by any means, and had a lacy canopy over it. There was a dressing table surrounded by white satin skirting. The table itself was a mirror and a makeup mirror sat upon that. A large case held all of her jewelry. It perched precariously on top of a mahogany bedside table which also held a little lamp with crystal prisms hanging from the edge. A huge window seat flanked one side of the room and it had a pink cushion and curtains draped the window from view. Everything was pink and cushy and fluffy and ridiculously nice- just like Glinda had been as a child.

Elphaba noted a mannequin that stood in the corner of the room and had a beautiful dress on it that was going to make Glinda look like a princess whenever she chose to wear it. She smiled slightly and looked down at the bed where she had sat down and folded her feet beneath her. She and Luke had been back in Oz for only two days and already her old self was coming back to her. From what information she was able to glean, Glinda had, in fact, cleared Elphaba's name despite her promise not to and she was going to be the next leader of Oz. They had stayed out of view to avoid being seen because Elphaba wasn't sure she was ready for anyone to know that she was back yet. Not to mention that coming back would mean she'd have to give a lot of answers she wasn't sure that she, as of yet, was ready to give. Now she had come to the palace to see Glinda. If she told no one else she was alive, she would tell her friend. She needed to tell at least Glinda that she was okay. Her time in Kansas had changed her in ways she couldn't explain. Now the idea of leaving Oz forever as she and Fiyero had planned to do was completely unthinkable. She had come wearing an overlarge cloak and a black lace veil as well as gloves to keep any of her skin from being visible. The only thing not different was the black dress. Funnily enough all of her things had come with her to Oz. The Grimmerie, her book bag, the Grimmerie, and, to her extreme embarrassment, her Over the Moon Rent pajamas that Luke had told her she could borrow. She wasn't sure how it was that she, Luke, Chistery, and all of the things had ended up back in Oz except for her fervent, heartfelt wish to go home. Perhaps Glinda was smarter than she knew.

Elphaba was pitched unceremoniously out of her reminiscing when the door to the room opened and someone let out a yell. Her eyes leapt to the door and there Glinda stood. She hadn't changed in the time Elphaba had been gone- though she looked more tired and worried and maybe even sad. "Who are you?! What are you doing in my room?!" Glinda backed up and she was fumbling around on her dresser. "Don't you move! Stay back and don't move an inch! I've got .. got.." She looked desperately around and grabbed her hands on the first thing she saw. "Rosewater!" She exclaimed, grabbing up a bowl of scented water that sloshed over the sides of the wash basin and onto her hands and the floor. To anyone else the use of Rose water for a "weapon" would've been laughable. To Elphaba it was terrorizing. "NO!" She exclaimed, terror coloring her voice as she rolled sideways and fell off between the bed and the wall at the same moment that Glinda tossed the water in her direction. It splashed on the bed.

If Glinda wasn't so terrified of the stranger in the middle of her room, it would've been laughable. Who was afraid of mere water? The person had reacted as if she'd had a sword or a gun. "Get out from back there and let me see your face or.. or.. or I'm going to call a guard!" She exclaimed, her voice tight.

"Only if there's no more water where that came from." a voice responded from under the bed.

Glinda recognized the voice, but her shock was so great she wasn't sure that she could allow herself to believe it. "E.elphie?" she whispered, her voice even more frightened now. "I..is that you?"

"Do you know anyone else that would hide under a bed because of a bloody container of rose water?" came the response.

"I thought..."

"Thought I was dead." Elphaba finished, crawling out from under the bed and shrugging out of her cloak and the veil, laying them as far away as she possibly could from any of the puddle of water in the middle of Glinda's fluffy pink comforter.

"Well... yes but.. it's really you." Glinda whispered in amazement and a second later she had rushed Elphaba and was hugging her so tightly it actually hurt. However, Elphaba was hugging her back just as tightly. She wasn't normally given to physical expressions of emotion, but she now realized just how much she'd been missing Glinda even though she didn't remember her. All her memories of the loneliness of her years of solitude came back to her. She hugged her friend just as hard and Glinda buried her face in Elphie's shoulder trying very hard not to cry and when she couldn't resist it any more Elphaba pulled back, an expression mixed of laughter and repulsion as she tried to get away from Glinda's tears. "No more water! you promised!"

"Yes well... I'm sorry I just.." She reached up and wiped her streaming eyes. "I thought I'd never see you again! you're supposed to be dead! Oh Sweet Lurline wait until I tell Fiyero!"

Elphaba shook her head, "Well .. don't tell him yet." She sighed a bit.

"Oh I know! We've got to have some time to get reacquainted first before you introduce yourself back into society don't we?" She asked, her voice literally bubbling with pent up enthusiasm.

Elphaba just nodded wearily, not feeling like explaining at that exact moment. Being back in Oz and having all her memories presented a conundrum she never thought she would have to face and right now she didn't want to admit its existence- even to herself. She was in love with two people and she loved them much in different yet the same ways. She didn't want to face the fact that she was now going to have to choose whom she loved more. She couldn't have both Luke and Fiyero and the idea that she had to pick between two loves was literally heart wrenching. Not only that, she was going to break someone else's heart as well as her own in the process. However she did it, someone was going to get hurt and Elphaba didn't want to hurt either of them. She loved them both so much and the idea of having to make a choice like that made her feel half sick. She had always thought it laughable when girls said they loved two men. She thought it silly.. but now that she was in the position herself, she vowed she would never say something like that again. She would never judge another person's emotions as being silly or trivial again either.

"What _happened _to you Elphie?!" Glinda asked, leading her friend by the shoulders over to the small faint couch in front of her fireplace and sitting down with her.

"It's... a long story." Elphie said with a long sigh, rubbing her temples which were beginning to ache.

"It's okay. I've got plenty of time." Glinda said softly, wrapping her arm around Elphaba's waist and, for once, Elphaba didn't protest and even wrapped her own arm back around her friend somewhat awkwardly. "Well.. It all started with this tornado..."

It took Elphaba almost two full hours to tell Glinda everything that had happened since her awakening in Kansas. By the time she had finished it had gotten dark out and it was past six in the evening. Suddenly, Glinda had a brilliant idea. As wonderful as this Luke person seemed. She knew down deep in her heart that it was Fiyero that Elphaba belonged with and given that she hadn't met Luke she didn't particularly care if his heart got broken. So what- it was Fiyero that Elphaba belonged with and that was the end of the subject. If Elphaba went to the ball that night and Glinda found someone else to dance with at the moment Elphaba came in, that would leave her partnerless and Fiyero would see her and then they would have to dance together. He was far too gentlemanly to leave someone without a partner and then by the time he made his way to her he'd realize it really was Elphaba and that would be it! They'd be back together and she, Glinda, would have made up for ruining things between them back at school when something might have happened far earlier had it not been for her involvement with FIyero, who was much too much of a gentleman to ever consider cheating on her even if he had felt attracted to Elphaba back then, which she thought sure he had been. It was going to be perfect! Prince Charming and Cinderella at the ball like the age old fairy tale. Cinderella had been one of Glinda's ancestors and even though it had been almost three hundred years earlier she was still proud of call Cinderella Gilikinese. That was back when Gilikin had had a real prince. However, that didn't mean that Elphaba couldn't still play out the Cinderella story tonight. She was meant to do it. Besides.. she was beautiful, she just didn't realize it.

"Listen, Elphie. There's.. a masque tonight. To celebrate my becoming ruler of Oz but.. there's no where else I'd rather be tonight than with my best friend. Would you do me the honor of coming with me?" She asked hopefully.

Elphaba raised her eyebrow dubiously and indicated her much worn, ripped, black dress. "In _this _get up?" she inquired, making a slight face. "Glinda, you convinced me to go to one ball and make a complete idiot out of myself with your hat but that'll never happen again. I'm not quite so gullible this time even if I don't follow the fashion trends or read Oz Luxe."

Glinda grinned, "Don't worry, we'll find you a dress. I have plenty. I'm a little shorter than you, but all mine are made much longer than they should be because I always wear heels with them. We'll give you flat shoes and no one will even be able to tell. Come on Elphie pllleeeassseee." She protested, her voice in a low wheedling note. Glinda got in behind the faint couch and reached up to Elphie's hair and began pulling the pins out of it and reached for her silver and pearl trimmed brush and slowly brushed Elphaba's waist length hair out. It waved slightly towards the end and Glinda kept gently combing through it for a minute until it was straight and then began to playfully roll it around her fingers.

"Elphie.. I've decided to make you my new project.. that's what makes me so nice! Whenever I see someone less fortunate than I, And let's face it who isn't less fortunate than I? My tender heart tends to start to bleed, and when someone needs a makeover I simply have to take over. I know, I know exactly what they need. And even in your case, though it's the toughest case I've yet to face, don't worry I'm determined to succeed. Follow my lead and yes indeed you will be ... Popular! You're gonna be popular! I'll teach you the proper poise when you talk to boys, little ways to flirt and flounce.. ooh I'll show you what shoes to wear, how to fix your hair everything that really counts to be popular! I'll help you be popular! You'll hang with the right cohorts, you'll be good at sports, know the slang you've got to know. So let's start.. cause you've got an awfully long way to go!"

Glinda sang in the same beautiful soprano as she had done when they were in school and memories came rushing back of their new friendship.. teaching each other, spending time together and it almost made Elphaba get a little teary. Fortunately, she didn't have time to think about it anymore as Glinda quit playing with her hair and practically leaped over the side of the couch and grabbed Elphaba's hand without waiting for consent from her friend as she literally pulled her to her feet from the couch and dragged her towards the dressing room with the makeup table that could be accessed through her walk in closet, still singing the song the entire time as she lead Elphaba away and Elphie was reluctantly beginning to smile just a little bit. There was simply no use protesting Glinda when she got like this and so she simply allowed her to drag her off. If Glinda insisted, Elphie supposed that being "Popular" for one single night couldn't possibly hurt that much...

Glinda grabbed her friends' hands and spun her around through the closest making them both so dizzy they almost crashed through a hat stand.

"I'm gonna make you Popular... Lar .. lar... lar!!"

_Hope you guys enjoyed this chappie. I know I LOVED writing it and YAY Fiyero is back! I feel so bad for him he's totally blaming himself! And what do you think will happen at the ball? Did anyone else find it amusing what song Glinda chose to sing to Elphie to convince her to go to the masque? lol. For the girlies loving this story EEEK I totally got to use it as an excuse to pick dressed for them. Wait until you see what I chose they're beautiful! XD I'm totally over my writer's block now too. I think all I needed was to get Elphie back to Oz. I started writing this chappie this morning and wrote it all in a day and it's like 4k. WHOOT! _


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